Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

6/10

Starring the voices of

George Clooney

Meryl Streep

Jason Schwartzman

Bill Murray

Owen Wilson

Directed by Wes Anderson

I guess I’m one of the few who didn’t get to see Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009. I knew of its popularity as a nice stop-motion animation, but I always seemed to miss it. Seeing it now, I can see why many liked it. Other than being true to the adaptation it’s based on, the animation added more scenes to the main plot, giving the movie a new beginning and a fleshed-out ending. There was also an upgrade to the dialogue to cater to mature viewers. Additionally, some backstory was added, and some characters were given their own side stories or more to do in this movie.

If you’ve read the 1970 Roald Dahl children’s book Fantastic Mr. Fox, you can tell in this film where the book’s original plot starts and ends.

The story of Mr. Fox starts with a promise to be a better person, then takes us through him falling back into his old ways. He steals from the three main farmers in his area: Boggis (a chicken farmer), Bunce (a duck and goose farmer), and Bean (a turkey and apple farmer). The farmers aren’t having it and decide to catch Fox. They follow him to his home and shoot at it. When they see he’s escaped, they dig him out, hell-bent on catching him.

Now trapped, Fox doesn’t let the situation get him down, and he gets back at the trio. From then on, we watch the two parties trying to get one over on each other.

Wes Anderson (the director and co-writer of the screenplay) decided to add some scenes before the book’s main plot starts. These scenes focus on the relationship between Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep), plus how they came to be living in the tree.

Where the book ends is not where the movie ends. We do get to the final scene of the book, but Anderson decided to flesh it out a lot more (compared to the beginning of the film). We still get the same ending with the farmers waiting to catch Mr. Fox, but the movie made them meaner and smarter.

What I really enjoyed in the movie was the way Anderson made Fox appeal to me as a viewer. I enjoyed seeing him struggle, think on his feet, and always refuse to let his circumstances overwhelm him.

Although the movie was a critical success, it wasn’t a financial one. It also had a bad run at the Academy Awards. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score but lost both to Disney's Up.