Film
Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Director
- Wes Anderson
- Certificate
- PG
- Running Time
- 87 mins
Wes Anderson’s expanded take on Roald Dahl’s splendid short story couldn’t be further removed from the digital gleam of Pixar’s finest, but he successfully imports his familiar film-making and storytelling styles to the medium, offering plenty of fun for adults and children without patronising either audience with fart gags or in-jokes. The refreshingly old-school stop-motion puppet animation also proves a fine fit for Dahl’s delicious yarn.
Perfectly incarnated in vulpine form, George Clooney is the handsome, debonair, slightly vain and rather reckless Mr Fox, who’s weaned off his life of crime as a chicken thief by long-suffering Mrs Fox (Meryl Streep) to become a newspaper columnist. But after 12 years of domesticity and fatherhood, temptation proves too great for the old rogue when the family move into their new arboreal abode opposite nasty farmers Boggis, Bunce and the thoroughly unpleasant Bean (Michael Gambon). With athletic cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) and bumbling opossum Kylie (Wally Wolodarsky), he slips back into his old ways (“I’m a wild animal!” he explains disarmingly), provoking an all-out war between beast and farmer as well as ructions on the home front, where sulky son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) feels neglected in his father’s shadow.
The witty script by Anderson and Noah Baumbach benefits from plenty of quickfire dialogue and cleverly stays within the confines of the PG cert by using “cuss” as an all-purpose swear word (“This looks like a clustercuss!” ejaculates our chicken-chomping hero at one point). There are also some terrific supporting critters, such as Bill Murray’s Badger-at-law and Willem Dafoe’s sinister Rat. Character design is fabulous too, with all the smartly dressed, bipedal foxes having pointy faces and human hands. Their animal nature only becomes evident when they sit down to eat, making the Simpsons family mealtimes seem like a dining etiquette masterclass. And if some of the scenery seems familiar, that’s because one part of the set is closely modelled on Bath Street and St. Michael’s Place, with a meticulous recreation of Bath’s Little Theatre.
is needed now More than ever
You’re invited to dress up for this outdoor screening in Redcatch Community Garden’s canopy. Fun and games, prizes, snacks and lots of cider are also promised in addition to a screening of the film. Gates open at 7:30pm, with the film on screen at approx 8:45pm. Note that this is an adults only event. Go here for tickets and further information.
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