Fantastic Mr. Fox

George Clooney leads an all star cast of voice actors who are genuinely portraying the characters on the screen. That's a relief. "Kung Fu Panda" and "Shrek 3" had me worrying that, from now on, the characters would be based around the actors they found instead of vice versa. Clooney is good in the role, despite being constantly outshined by co-star Meryl Streep.

Together they are Mr. and Mrs. Fox, who are (as you can guess) foxes. Mr. Fox is a former chicken thief who, at the request of his wife, found a different line of work. He is an unsuccessful columnist who wants nothing more than to move out of his hole in the ground, and into a nice tree. A nice tree in a bad neighborhood, it seems, as he finds himself next door to Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Three farmers so mean the local children sing songs about them.

The Farmers are uninterested in their new neighbors until Mr. Fox is unable to keep his desire to steal chickens in check. His actions alone cause his family, and all his neighbors to move deep underground. Mrs. Fox reminds us that the story will end when everyone dies, unless Mr. Fox can change his ways.

The rugged, often flat (it is a Wes Anderson film, after all), look of the film just adds to the growing absurdity of a film that starts with talking foxes and ends with an assault-by-pinecone war against the three farmers. At what point was it made clear that the animals could talk to the farmers? Most of the film, you get the impression that the farmers see the animals as just primal beasts. Irrelevant, really. The film never quite jumps the shark. If it does, it's such a gradual take off I didn't even notice.

The film is funny, as it is also very touching. There aren't many jokes or punchlines, just classic situation-based comedy mixed with witty dialog. This is a film where, you can honestly see all the elements working together to form something better than the sum of it's parts. Perhaps the greatest thrill of the film, however, is the fact that I am now convinced that, despite advancements in cell and computer animation, Stop Motion is hear to stay.


*** out of ****