While enduring my 16-hour flight from Dubai back to the United States during the summer, watching movies on the little TV screens was the only thing that kept me sane. One of the movies I watched was Fantastic Mr. Fox, and it definitely lived up to its fantastic name.
At first I was a little skeptical about the movie because it is all stop-motion, meaning the movie was made by using many still frames strung together to depict movement. Movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit were movies that were also made using stop-motion also use this technique, but I was worried that the photos wouldn’t seem like they were capturing the actual movement of the characters. Even so, the stop-motion in that movie was probably the best I have ever seen.
Since George Clooney (Mr. Fox), Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox), and Bill Murray (Badger) are prominent in the movie industry, they gave tasteful impact to the characters’ styles with the voices they were able to give the puppets gave the characters unique personalities through their voices. Mr. Fox was is sly, easy going, calm, and sneaky, just like a fox. He has a very creative mind that leads him to win certain battles. Mr. Fox also has a signature whistling you’ll hear throughout the movie. Mrs. Fox has more of a motherly nature — caring, careful, artsy and compassionate towards her family. The Badger is the real estate agent for the animals in the valley where they live in and also happens to be a demolitions expert.
The movie is about Mr. Fox, who liked to steal chickens and other types of food things so he and Mrs. Fox could have food to eat, and because it seemed like he got he seemed to get a rush from stealing. But when Mrs. Fox informs her husband that she is pregnant and wants him to stop his life of crime for their child, Mr. Fox faces a huge conflict. Mr. Fox obviously loves his wife and is excited to be adding to the family, but pretty much has become addicted to stealing.
He and his friends devise plans to try and steal chickens and other goods from three businessmen, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, who live in their area. Boggis is the fat, mean, old chicken farmer. Bunce is the rude, short, duck and goose farmer. Finally, there is Bean. He is the violent, tall, skinny drunk, with the turkey and apple farm where he has a cellar full of cider. Bean HATES Mr. Fox and does everything he can think of to try and get rid of him.
Mr. and Mrs. Fox also have a few issues with their son, Ash, who is portrayed by Jason Schwartzman. Ash seems to always feel left out and express violent tendencies. He thinks that if he becomes more rebellious or does something strange, it will catch his father’s attention and let make him love him more than Kris (Kristofferson Silverfox, played by Eric Anderson, Ash’s cousin who lives with the Foxes). Kris seems to be perfect at everything and always gets Mr. Fox’s attention with his intelligence and the way he just seems to do everything right. Ash becomes very jealous of Kris, which leads to some issues along the way.
This movie’s story is a bit different compared to other films you have probably watched. It is a great movie for all ages and will surely make you laugh. Fantastic Mr. Fox has every aspect that you would want to see in an animated movie. It added a lot more fun to my long plane ride.
