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The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Nov. 27th, 2009 23:31I don't have much to say about this movie, except that it's awesome.
Well, okay, I do. Suffice it to say, I think that the movie is a triumph both of design and of animation, and a vindication not only of non-computer but of specifically handmade animation (though it's also radically innovative; the full-face close-ups are something I don't think I've seen before in this style of animation, and they're quite effective). The color palette of the movie alone, to say nothing of the painstaking care taken with the characters' outfits, and the sets, and scaling each to the other, is humbling. I also think that it's probably Wes Anderson's best movie since The Royal Tenenbaums, and may even be his best of all--I think in this movie he comes closer to acknowledging and truly grappling with the ambiguities, both ethical and familial, of his protagonist(s) than in any other film. It's Fox's unwillingness to be contented with what he has, and simultaneously to find things to be contented with in what he's got, that makes him so attractive (the three toasts in the film are each brilliant. The dialogue in general is brilliant), and that nearly destroys him and his family, friends and neighbors. I also think that Anderson does brilliant credit to Roald Dahl without adhewing to him slavishly, which comes off flatteringly to both of them. I couldn't pick a favorite moment, because there were so many that were awesome, in multiple ways.
If I have one complaint about Anderson's movies in general, and this movie in particular, it's that (despite the awesomeness of Felicity Fox) it's mostly a boys' club. I suppose the trade-off to having female characters in active roles is that Anderson's older women characters are so strong, and usually the rock of their movies' universes, but you know, like Fox, I want it all, right now.
Well, okay, I do. Suffice it to say, I think that the movie is a triumph both of design and of animation, and a vindication not only of non-computer but of specifically handmade animation (though it's also radically innovative; the full-face close-ups are something I don't think I've seen before in this style of animation, and they're quite effective). The color palette of the movie alone, to say nothing of the painstaking care taken with the characters' outfits, and the sets, and scaling each to the other, is humbling. I also think that it's probably Wes Anderson's best movie since The Royal Tenenbaums, and may even be his best of all--I think in this movie he comes closer to acknowledging and truly grappling with the ambiguities, both ethical and familial, of his protagonist(s) than in any other film. It's Fox's unwillingness to be contented with what he has, and simultaneously to find things to be contented with in what he's got, that makes him so attractive (the three toasts in the film are each brilliant. The dialogue in general is brilliant), and that nearly destroys him and his family, friends and neighbors. I also think that Anderson does brilliant credit to Roald Dahl without adhewing to him slavishly, which comes off flatteringly to both of them. I couldn't pick a favorite moment, because there were so many that were awesome, in multiple ways.
If I have one complaint about Anderson's movies in general, and this movie in particular, it's that (despite the awesomeness of Felicity Fox) it's mostly a boys' club. I suppose the trade-off to having female characters in active roles is that Anderson's older women characters are so strong, and usually the rock of their movies' universes, but you know, like Fox, I want it all, right now.