The Fantastic Mr. Fox succeeds because George Clooney brings
an effortless je ne sais quoi* to his saavy vocal portrayal of Mr.
Fox. Based on a 1970 animated book by Ronald Dahl, Mr. Fox is the
animal world's Robin Hood, James Bond, and Ward Cleaver all
rolled into one. Meryl Streep, as Mrs. Fox, sounds lithe and
sexy. The movie begins with a Bonnie and Clyde routine where Mr.
and Mrs. Fox jump fences and raid a chicken coop, only to be
trapped in a cage on the way out of the structure. Mr. Fox
incorrectly guesses that the trap is spring-loaded, causing it to
land on both of them. His wife chooses that moment to tell him
that she is expecting. She extracts a promise: that if they
escape their near-certain death this time, he will find a safer
way of making a living.
We flash forward to years later, Mr. Fox is newspaper columnist
with a young son. One day he tells his wife, "I don't want to
live in a hole anymore," and begins searching for real estate in
the loftier "tree" market. Against his lawyer's advice (side
note- his lawyer is a real badger) he buys the tree. Out his
front window, the three meanest farmers in the region; Boggis,
Bunce and Bean. It isn't long before Mr. Fox decides to do "one
last job." That's the beginning of his fall from grace...and last
shot at redemption?
This film that leaves audiences smiling, their hearts a little
warmer, and more sympathetic to the animal instinct in all of us
that sometimes makes us want to do things we said we wouldn't.
This is a film for children and adults, bringing back the warm
feel of hand-crafted, stop-frame animation in a nascent backlash
against the coldly geometrical, high fructose, big CG
blockbusters. Kudos to Director Wes Anderson and co-producers at
20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises and Indian
Paintbrush.