(Fig 1: Movie Still)
Fantastic Mr.Fox (2009) Original story by Roald Dahl, Directed by Wes Anderson follows the story of Mr.Fox and his family. Mr.Fox was once a chicken thief but when his wife becomes pregnant, she wants him to give up that line of work and find something less dangerous. 12 years later, he's living a mundane life and breaks the promise he made years ago.
(Fig 2: Movie Still)
The film has sub plots to do with other characters such as Mr.Foxes son dealing with being different and his cousin being more popular than him. However, the overarching story is Mr.Fox betraying the trust of his wife and endangering those around him, but working to try and fix what he caused. Not only that it's a fable about responsibility and freedom, in the film Mr.Fox mentions a lot about being a wild animal and questions why he's a fox. He is used to a certain life and going 12 years without being himself, a "Wild animal" he eventually relapsed and he has to learn from what he has done.
(Fig 3: Movie Still)
The film is stop motion animated, which is common with Wes Anderson in other films such as 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'. The film is aware of it's hand made style and owns it, Seitz says " in all of these moments you're aware that you're seeing something that was made by people...and the movies okay with that, it's not trying to fool you" (Seitz, 2014) In fact this adds to the charm of film, the way in which you can see the bits of fur move from where the animator has moved the model. Things like that just emphasises that the film was made by humans and not just a computer.
(Fig 4: Movie Still)
The film also pastiches other films in certain scenes. For example, the scene where the farmers start to dig up the tree it resembles a scene from 'Apocalypse Now' playing the Rolling Stones in an "action" scene. Another example would be the rat character we see in the cider cellar. He gives off a west side story vibe as he walks around menacingly, clicking his fingers.
(Fig 5, Movie Still)
As well as pastiche the film also has a lot of interesting shots. Examples of which would be when all the creature retreat underground and Mr.Foxes wife confronts him. It's a dark shot but illuminated by the light of the waterfall in the background. Another key shot is the view of the three farms, we see it a lot throughout the film, but it really comes alive during the scene when the creatures are all digging away from the farmers while there's mayhem above ground.
Illustration List:
Fig 1, Movie Poster: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/fantastic-mr-fox/id336288777
Fig 2, Movie Still: https://www.spotern.com/en/spot/movie/fantastic-mr-fox/2312/la-cagoule-de-voleur-de-mr-fox-george-clooney-dans-fantastic-mr-fox
Fig 3, Movie Still: https://thetyee.ca/ArtsAndCulture/2009/12/11/FantasticMrFox/
Fig 4, Movie Still: https://www.myreviewer.com/Blu-ray/132013/Fantastic-Mr-Fox/132021/JPEG
Fig 5, Movie Still: http://forum.filmspotting.net/index.php?topic=7571.270
Bibliography:
Seitz, M. (2017). THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION CHAPTER 6: FANTASTIC MR. FOX. [online] Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/77745711 [Accessed 2 Mar. 2019].
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