Fantastic Mr Fox

[undyingking]

I had been vaguely aware that there was a new, animated film of Fantastic Mr Fox around, but it wasn't until just recently that I realized it was by Wes Anderson. So I went to see it, with T, last night.

I really enjoyed it -- in ways that have very, very little to do with the Roald Dahl book. Anderson has taken that as a loose jumping-off point, and gone off into several unusual dimensions. If you liked Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, you will like this film. Basically it's full of silly, hugely inventive, and slightly strange moments. And the animation is really nice too -- it's unusual these days to see stop-motion at the big cinema, apart from Aardman stuff.

Sample dialogue:

Mr. Fox: [sighs] Who am I, Kylie?
Kylie: Who how? What now?
Mr. Fox: Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I'm saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you'll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?
Kylie: I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds illegal.

[Poll #1481182]

Comments

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

You need to add: "I'll see it but probably not until it's free on one of the movie channels."

I'm not entirely convinced by Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums being a pretty good example of why. As a film it felt to me like someone trying to make The Hotel New Hampshire and failing; the oddities and quirkiness just seemed too contrived and self-conscious to really charm.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, that was definitely the weakest of the three I cited -- I haven't seen Bottle Rocket or The Darjeeling Limited, but have heard them to be respectively pretty good and complete rubbish).

I think of the three, Fox is closest to the Steve Zissou feel.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I have seen Bottle Rocket but can remember virtually nothing about it which is never a good sign. The Darjeeling Limited was a rambling sequence of events, rather than a story, and not an especially interesting rambling sequence of events at that. It was also, I felt, trying too hard to be quirky.

I've not seen Rushmore or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, so if they're considered better than his other films I'll watch them before I finalise judgement on Mr. Anderson.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

By me, they're considered better than Tenenbaums, certainly. But maybe some of the other people here know more / different (he wondered hopefully).

[jackfirecat.livejournal.com]

I've seen all apart from Mr Fox and would, too, say Rushmore and The Life Aquatic are the best.

[mizzykitty.livejournal.com]

I saw it ages ago in one of those preview screenings, and half the animation wasn't even complete. But I really enjoyed it even then! I'm interested to see how the finished product is, and how different it was from the initial stages.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I heard that an early version had Jarvis Cocker narrating in voiceover, did you have that?

[metame.livejournal.com]

I do. Right now.

(This House is Condemned - on Spotify's "Artist Radio" for Pulp)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Oho! I shall check it out forthwith.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

And indeed it was condemned. I really should get that album.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

If you liked Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, you will like this film.

Hm. I liked Life Aquatic a lot, but thought the Royal Tenenbaums was a complete waste of a couple of hours I'll never have back...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I did say "or", not "and" ;-)

[cuthbertcross.livejournal.com]

Well, babysaxon went to see it with the childminders over half term, and said it was fun.

She didn't comment on the dialogue though, apparently it was "about a mister fox who likes to eat chickens even though he's actually a goody".

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

The eating is one of the very funny bits. Another is the subtle cursing, which hopefully she didn't notice.

[mothsmoonflower.livejournal.com]

Um,how can you memorise dialogue like that? Scary.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I can't, but IMDB can.

[waistcoatmark.livejournal.com]

Never been a huge fan of Wes: I sort of prefer his namesake Paul.

But the trailer for Mr. Fox looked _awful_. Really low frame rate, and the characters looked like the results of a beginners taxidermy class. A fact highlighted by the main film after the trailers, which showed how animal fur should be done.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

You prefer the guy who brought us such gems as Mortal Kombat and Alien vs Predator? Yikes. He's not even my favourite director named Paul Anderson -- the one who made Magnolia and Boogie Nights would win that.

Mm, I never saw the Fox trailer, which is fortunate as by all accounts it might well have put me off.