Fantastic Mr. Fox

I consider myself to be a big fan of Wes Anderson but with his previous film “The Darjeeling Limited” it’s clear that he’s been stuck in a creative rut. Two years ago, while my other favorite American auteur, Paul Thomas Anderson, was reaching well outside his comfort with “There Will Be Blood”, Wes Anderson turned in exactly what you would expect of him. You can almost diagram the formula: Bill Murray + The Kinks + strained relationships + a slow-motion final shot + his perennial font of choice: Futura Bold. Fantastic Mr. Fox includes nearly all of those things but it’s still a large creative leap forward for Anderson and I’m really happy to see the results.

While the bare bones plot of the films is based on Roald Dahl’s book of the same name, the film is %100 percent Wes Anderson. It’s charming as hell and probably the most I have laughed during a film this year. Mr. Fox’s meticulously crafted world is a creative extension of what Anderson has done is previous films with “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic” (think the cross section cutaway of the ship). It also gives him ample opportunity for visual jokes, many of which I’m sure I missed. I’m looking forward to this one on DVD so I can make use of the freeze frame feature to study the details. My favorite visual joke is the graffiti of the word “CUSS” (being the film’s all-purpose profanity) spray painted on a wall in the background. (I can’t wait to work “clustercuss” into a conversation). I also loved the way the action plays out in one scene on security camera monitors, from left to right, like comic book panels come to life.

Ultimately, I’m not sure what the subtext in this film is, if any. I picked up on themes of rebellion and being true to your nature but there’s no overt moral to this film. And that’s fine because it’s one of the most entertaining films of the year.