Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox (DVD)

I had been hesitant to see this movie, only because I loved "Up" a lot, and everybody said this movie rivaled "Up" in it's animated genius, and I didn't want to believe that and the only way to continue believing that was just to simply not see it.


Well curiosity got the best of me and it soon was at the top of my Netflix queue and the postmaster soon delivered it to my too small of a mailbox. Come to find out, I really really really liked this movie. So much as that I thought it did rival "Up" in its genius. Pixar movies always have that special something in them that makes  both the twenty something adult in me love and adore and the little 12 year old inside me squeal and laugh with delight. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" seemed to be aimed at adults. Don't get me wrong, I thought kids could enjoy the caper too as there are enough visual gags and silly business to keep them interested, but I had to shift perspective to see it as a kid. In any one of Pixar's movies the kid and the adult in me find simultaneous joy - "Mr. Fox" just appealed to the slightly cynical and grown up me, which is always why I will put Pixar's movies on a higher level, but I really liked "Fantastic Mr. Fox" for many reasons. Let me tell you some of them...now.


I get a kick out of Wes Anderson's movies. I appreciated "Rushmore," thought "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" was quirky and fun, but kind of boring, and I love "The Royal Tenenbaums," which remains one of my favorite movies. He has quite a distinct style to his films, trademarked by his simple framing devices, straight on shots and title cards - I think "quirky," though overused, it really the best way to describe his movies. I can see some people hating it, but I find it amusing. It makes me smile. So I was originally surprised to see that style lend itself so very well to animation, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is unlike any other animated movie I've seen, maybe in my life. It was as if it was a real movie, with real people, directed by Wes Anderson, except that instead of real people they're animated animals. I can't describe it, you just have to see it for yourself.  The way the movie looked just kept a smile - maybe even more of an interested smirk on my face  - the entire time.


The voices (provided by the likes of George Clooney as Mr. Fox, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, and Bill Murray as Badger) just added so much to the film, but unlike some movies by other animated companies (say Dreamworks for example - who's reliance on big name movie stars to voice characters that might not necessarily be the best choices but are the biggest names) the big named stars do not overpower their animated counterparts at all. Clooney's soothing, charming voice is perfect for the sly Mr. Fox and I could almost not tell it was Meryl Streep at all, but instead her voice just became the caring wife and mother Mrs. Fox.


And the movie was smart! It was so smart to watch. Things that I know would go right over a kid's head. Like a complicated discussion of the housing market, except as how it applies to holes in the ground as opposed to a tree, with pine trees being way out of Mr. Fox's price range. Or the mid-life crisis Mr. Fox is going through which gives him the itch to get back into a life a crime and how that crisis affects the rest of his family. And the brilliant use of the word "cuss" inserted many many times throughout the movies in the place of vulgar words that would have rated the movie a much higher rating. The first time it happened I thought nothing of it, but the second I went wait a minute. NO WAY! They are totally swearing in this movie! But not really. It's just so...smart! Like I said before, right? For example, a quote:

Mr. Fox: I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.

Badger: The cuss you are. 

Mr. Fox: The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me? 

Badger: No, you cussing with me? 

Mr. Fox: Don't cussing point at me! 

Badger: If you're gonna cuss with somebody, you're not gonna cuss with me, you little cuss! 

Mr. Fox: You're not gonna cuss with me! 

I'm not sure how much of the original novel by Roald Dahl is retained in this adaptation by Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach, as I may have only read this book once and don't remember it at all, but I'm pretty sure they took a few liberties here and there, but those only add to the resonating power of the movie with today's audiences. The spirit had to have been kept at least, and I'm sure it was as I heard no complaints otherwise. We can add this to the canon of Roald Dahl movies that I love now along with "James and the Giant Peach" and "Matilda." But I'm glad Wes Anderson worked his magic with this one. It could've only enhanced this story.


I just really love animated movies and the power they have to do anything. There are no restrictions on them as they don't require real actors, and your sense of belief is already suspended as you know there is never a real person talking on screen, so it's not like watching an actor act with CGI all over or behind them, and I think the art of creating an entire world - the people in it, the settings, the noises, everything! - the fact it's all created from scratch is a mighty impressive feat to me. Which is why good animation has always been and will always be very special to me.




Patrick Approval Rating: 10/10




"Fantastic Mr. Fox" @ imdb

Review: Alice in Wonderland (Theatrical)

I'll start this review off discussing my stance on this 3-D craze that has attacked movie theaters (and America's wallets) as of late. I want to remind everybody of the 50s, during a time that I feel like everybody has forgotten, when all movies seemed to be in 3-D. Not that I was alive back then, but doesn't anybody remember those pictures of conservative 1950s audiences wearing 3-D glasses at the movies and being shocked at the giant bugs popping off the screen? Remember how the movie version of "Kiss Me Kate" was awkwardly in 3-D? And remember how that fad ended? And remember that it became a joke or theme park novelty (thanks Muppet Vision!)? So then why is it a big deal all of a sudden again? Sure I appreciate the novelty of 3-D, but I'm just waiting for this to all blow over in a couple of years. I don't particularly like it or think that it even adds anything to a movie and it hurts my eyes when things move around the screen quickly. The true test for me is when I see "Avatar" on DVD. Whereas I thought the 3-D aided that movie in placing the audience in a completely different world, I feel like now it's just being thrown on any movie, and that bothers me.

I could have liked "Alice in Wonderland" in 2-D, I'm sure. Perhaps I would have liked it even more than I did, as I felt like it was a generally blah movie altogether. I definitely feel like it didn't add anything to the story or the movie going experience except for having all the kids in the theater comment on how they could touch everything. Which also brings me to the awful movie going experience we had seeing this. I couldn't believe the young children who came, never mind the idiot family who showed up (a group of like 7, in a sold out showing) five minutes before the movie started, WITH A BALLOON AND AN INFANT. WHYYYYY. That angered me so much. So the balloon waved in the corner and the baby cried a lot and then I punched them all in the face.

OK, so back to the movie itself. I couldn't believe it was a Tim Burton movie, because it lacked a lot of...something. Creativity? It just seemed like a watered down Burton, or a commercialized Burton. Which I guess it was. A Disney-fied Tim Burton. Maybe he's lost the knack he was known for - that quirky off beat dark movies that actually had some heart and imagination. This movie seemed like it was just created in the vein of his other movies, to make someone some money because they knew Tim Burton and Wonderland would be a good match. Sure the movie looked like a Burton film, with the twisted greenery and the pale complexions and the general lack of eyebrows (except Anne Hathaway's White Queen) but maybe it just didn't live up to the expectations I had for what the movie could've been.

I thought the plot was way too contrived, with Alice going back to Wonderland and everybody there kept telling her she has been brought back to save them but she keeps denying this saying "they've got the wrong Alice" for no reason except to make the plot longer until Alice realizes she is that Alice. Le duh. I even found Johnny Depp to be oddly disappointing. I wanted him to be more...well, a tad more "mad" as the Mad Hatter and especially as compared to his cartoon counterpart he was kind of boring. And let's talk about the awkward hip hop dance he does which seems totally incongruous to the rest of the movie, but it's as if Depp said "I want to do a crazy dance at the end" and everybody was like, "You're Johnny Depp. Do what you want." I am not sure what the kid sitting next to me said when the dance started, but I choose to believe he did say "Hella Awkward." Which it was.

Maybe it was all the CGI of the movie that let me down a little. I didn't think it would bother me, and it kind of threw me back to the brilliant sequences of "Mary Poppins" or "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" with the live action characters cohabitating with animated characters on screen. But whereas those movies made those scenes feel magical, "Alice" left me with the sense of the CGI being a copout. It might as well has been an entirely animated movie. Oh wait, didn't that already happen once in 1951? And even though that "Alice in Wonderland" may not be one of my all time favorite Disney movies (it's still one of the best, but just not one of the top 10 favorites), this "Alice in Wonderland" pales in comparison.

I just think this was a case of a movie not living up to the expectations I had going into it because of the movie's premise, concept, director and cast. "Alice" should have been everything I thought it would've been, but it wasn't. I was entertained, sure, but I was also bored, unimpressed, and wished it wasn't in 3-D.

Please stop the 3-D trend. K-thanks.

Patrick Approval Rating: 6/10

"Alice in Wonderland" @ imdb