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Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)

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Fantastic Mr. Fox
Official poster
Directed byWes Anderson
Written byWes Anderson
Noah Baumbach (screenplay)
Roald Dahl (book)
Produced byWes Anderson
Scott Rudin
Allison Abbate
Steven Rales
StarringGeorge Clooney
Meryl Streep
Jason Schwartzman
Bill Murray
Jarvis Cocker
Owen Wilson
Willem Dafoe
Helen McCrory
CinematographyTristan Oliver
Edited byAndrew Weisblum
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
United Kingdom:
October 23, 2009
United States:
November 13, 2009
Running time
87 minutes
CountriesTemplate:FilmUK
Template:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30,000,000

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a Template:Fy stop motion animated film based on Roald Dahl's book of the same name. It was produced by Regency Enterprises and Indian Paintbrush, and premiered on October 14, 2009 at the London Film Festival. It went on general UK release on October 23, 2009, distributed by 20th Century Fox, and is scheduled for release in the US on November 13, 2009. It features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray. It is the first animated film directed by Wes Anderson, and 20th Century Fox's first stop-motion animated film.

Development began in 2004 as collaboration between Anderson and Henry Selick (who worked with Anderson on the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) under Revolution Studios. Revolution folded, Selick left to direct Coraline, and the project moved to Fox Animation Studios. Production began in London in 2007. Anderson chose to record voices outside rather than in a studio.

Plot

The film begins as Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and Mrs. 'Felicity' Fox (Meryl Streep) meet up and prepare to raid a local farm. They are successful at first, but trigger a trap and a cage closes over them. Felicity reveals that she is pregnant, and that she wants Fox to gain a less risky job as soon as possible.

Two years later, the two are living in a hole with their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman). Fox is now a newspaper man and the family wishes to buy a house. Fox visits a house within a tree. There, he meets the super, Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), an opossum with an uncontrollable habit of quickly snapping out of conversations. Fox at first shows disinterest in the house, but reconsiders when he notices the enormous facilities belonging to farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean (Michael Gambon).

Despite being persuaded not to do so by Badger (Bill Murray), Fox's lawyer and advisor, Fox buys the house in the tree and the family move in, shortly before being visited by Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson), Fox and Felicity's nephew, who Ash is insanely jealous of due to the former's superiority of almost everything to him.

After several days of planning, Fox and Kylie sneak into Boggis' chicken farm. The two manage to surpass all of the facility's traps, such as a group of beagles who Fox knocks unconscious using blueberries filled with sleeping powder. They manage to escape unharmed with a large stock of chickens. Felicity is suspicious as to where the fresh chickens in their cupboard have appeared from, but Fox tells her that he bought them from the local market.

The next night, Fox and Kylie raid Bunce's duck and goose farm. They complete the task much more easily than the previous one, as Bunce is distracted while they sneak in and out of the facility. Finally, Fox and Kylie go for Bean's cider cellar, this time accompanied by Kristofferson. Before they can steal anything, they are confronted by Rat (Willem Dafoe), Fox's long-time enemy and Bean's newly-recruited security guard. Rat attacks with a knife, but his opponents manage to succeed in trapping him in a crate. Once again, they leave the facility with the goods, but only after narrowly escaping from an encounter with Bean's wife, who has very bad vision.

The three return home with the cider, but Felicity catches them in the act hiding in the dark passageway and seeing that Kristofferson is the only one that has a bandit hat on. The scene finishes with Felicity saying, If what I think is happening is happening...it better not be!. Boggis, Bunce and Bean hold a meeting and decide to try and kill Fox. They camp outside the house in the tree, waiting for the team to emerge. When they do come outside, the farmers open fire and shoot Fox's tail off. Later, as Felicity is healing Fox's wound, the farmers start to dig into their house - the family escapes by digging deeper.

When the farmers look into the house and find that the family has escaped, Bean calls his wife and demands that a trio of powerful diggers be delivered to them immediately. After demolishing the whole of the household beneath the tree and finding the hole which the family escaped through, the farmers once again decide to wait outside for them to emerge, as they know they can not last forever without food and will need to come outside eventually.

Deep underground, Fox and his family run into Badger and many of the local residents. Their homes were also destroyed by the farmers, and they are all relying on Fox to save them. Great lines here. One of the residents forces mud over Ash's face. Kristofferson takes his shoes off and here is where the lines come in. Resident:Hey, why did you just take your shoes off? Kristofferson: So I do not break your nose when I kick it!. Kristofferson then uses his karate experience to KO the resident and he does with a series of karate moves and gives the resident a broken nose and a concussion. Fox sends Felicity to Badger's workplace to tell them that help is coming. Meanwhile, Fox uses his cunning sense of accuracy to dig and guide the group right into the middle of the farmers' facilities, giving them constant access to all the required food which they then feast on and live comfortably in Badger's workplace.

Ash, who is angered by the farmers shooting off his father's tail and wanting to prove himself to all of the animals, asks for Kristofferson to help him in secretly stealing back the tail from Bean's facility without his parents finding out. Kristofferson accepts and the two search Bean's farm and Kristofferson says that he would hang it over the mantelpiece. Ash agrees but they are distracted by a plate of apple-shaped nutmeg cakes. They devour them all but then Kristofferson looks up at the TV and sees that Bean has been wearing the tail as a neck tie. Bean's wife suddenly enters and Ash escapes, but Kristofferson is captured.

Meanwhile, the farmers are shocked to discover that the family has been stealing food from right beneath their noses. After throwing a fit of rage, Bean comes up with a plan to pump a colossal quantity of cider into the hole they found and push the animals out of the tunnel network. The plan goes well for the farmers, and all of the animals are pushed into a sewer hub. Ash is among the animals, but they are horrified when he tells them that Kris is being held hostage.

After learning that the farmers plan to use Kris to lure out Fox and kill him, Fox hopes that if he hands himself in, they will simply let Kristofferson go unharmed. Fox heads through the sewers to get outside and begins to saw through an opening with his claws. Felicity and the rest of the animals launch a desperate search of the sewers to find Kristofferson, hoping that he may have escaped.

Felicity's party is ambushed by Rat, who informs them that Bean is willing to trade Kristofferson for Fox - 'the father for the son'. However, Ash tells him that they obviously caught the wrong fox, because he is the son and Kristofferson is only the nephew. Enraged, Rat bundles Ash into a sack and tries to leave with him in captivity. Felicity attempts to stand in his way, but ultimately fails and is also briefly under Rat's control. As Fox cuts through the opening, he hears their cries and intervenes before Rat can escape. Fox and Rat brawl in a small chamber, and the fight ends with Fox knocking Rat into an electrical circuit. As Rat dies, he tells Fox that the only thing he wanted from his whole career of villainy was a sip of Bean's cider. Fox feeds him some moments before his death, then getly sails him off down a sewer stream.

Fox sends the farmers a letter requesting a meeting in a town outside the sewer hub. They agree to bring Kristofferson along, but instead set up a trap with the help of a whole army of their own security guards. After trying to trick Fox into thinking they have Kristofferson, Fox quickly realises that it's a trap and the animals launch an attack using burning pinecones. After bombarding the whole of the ambush, Fox, Ash and Kylie escape on a motorcycle and head for Bean's facility.

After a brief encounter with a wolf, the trio reaches the annex. The building containing Kristofferson is guarded by a dog infected with rabies, so Fox distracts it while Kylie and Ash climb onto the roof. Ash breaks in through a grate and saves Kristofferson from his cell after a quick karate lesson from Kristofferson which didn't work but he knocked the cell of the platform, cracking it - and Kristofferson's hand. After forgiving each other for all the trouble they've had with each other, they escape with Kylie and Fox, but only to come face to face with the farmers and their army. The guards open fire, but Ash uses some of his techniques just taught to him by Kris to release the rabid dog from the annex and unleash it upon the forces. Fox, Ash, Kylie and Kristofferson all escape from the annex.

After fleeing back into the sewers, the animals are once again all trapped underground by the farmers. As they begin to starve, Fox enters and brings the animals over to a manhole cover up above. They climb up and out of the cover and find that Fox has brought them into the farmers' international supermarket. The film ends on a reformed version of the book's ending, with the animals stealing food from the farmers without them ever finding out - meaning the farmers will be waiting forever.

Cast

Production

Joe Roth and Revolution Studios bought the film rights to Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2004. Wes Anderson signed on as director with Henry Selick, who worked with Anderson on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as animation director. Anderson signed on because Roald Dahl is one of his heroes.[6] In adapting the novel, the story the novel covers would amount to the second act of the film. Anderson added new scenes to serve for the film's beginning and end.[7] Selick left the project to work on the Neil Gaiman story Coraline in early 2006.[8] Mark Gustafson is his replacement.[9] Fox Animation Studios became the project's home in October 2006 after Revolution folded.[10]

In September 2007, Mr.Anderson announced voice work would begin.[1] The director chose to record the voices outside rather than in a studio: "We went out in a forest, [..] went in an attic, [and] went in a stable. We went underground for some things. There was a great spontaneity in the recordings because of that."[9] He said of the production design, "We want to use real trees and real sand, but it's all miniature."[1] Great Missenden, where Roald Dahl lived, has a major influence on the film's look.[6] The film mixes several forms of animation but consists primarily of stop motion.[10] Animation took place in London,[9] with Anderson directing the crew who animated Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.[11] Selick, who kept in contact with Anderson, said the director would act out scenes while in Paris and send them to the animators via iPhone.[12]

Fantastic Mr. Fox is Regency Enterprises' first completely-animated film.

Soundtrack

Jarvis Cocker has written a song for the film.[13]

  1. "American Empirical Pictures" - Alexandre Desplat
  2. "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" - The Wellingtons (from Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier)
  3. "Mr. Fox in the Fields" - Alexandre Desplat
  4. "Heroes and Villains" - The Beach Boys
  5. "Fooba Wooba John" - Burl Ives
  6. "Boggis, Bunce, and Bean" - Alexandre Desplat
  7. "Jimmy Squirrel and Co." - Alexandre Desplat
  8. "Love" - Nancy Adams
  9. "Buckeye Jim" - Burl Ives
  10. "High-Speed French Train" - Alexandre Desplat
  11. "Whack-Bat Majorette" - Alexandre Desplat
  12. "The Grey Goose" - Burl Ives
  13. "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar" - Alexandre Desplat
  14. "Une Petite Île" - Georges Delerue (from Two English Girls)
  15. "Street Fighting Man" - The Rolling Stones
  16. "Fantastic Mr. Fox AKA Petey's Song" - Jarvis Cocker
  17. "Night and Day" - Art Tatum
  18. "Kristofferson's Theme" - Alexandre Desplat
  19. "Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail (behind a Chinese Restaurant)" - Alexandre Desplat
  20. "Le Grand Choral" - Georges Delerue (from Day for Night)
  21. "Great Harrowsford Square" - Alexandre Desplat
  22. "Stunt Expo 2004" - Alexandre Desplat
  23. "Canis Lupus" - Alexandre Desplat
  24. "Ol' Man River" - The Beach Boys
  25. "Let Her Dance" - Bobby Fuller Four

[14]

Release

The film had its world premiere as the opening film of the 53rd edition of the London Film Festival on October 14, 2009.[15]

Reception

Fantastic Mr Fox has received mainly positive reviews from critics, with the film currently having a 91% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 reviews.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Josh Horowitz (September 26, 2007). "Wes Anderson Enlists Bill Murray For 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox'". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved September 26, 2007.
  2. ^ Michael Fleming (August 6, 2008). "Streep in deep with Meyers". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  3. ^ "Meryl Streep voicing a role in Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'". Entertainment Weekly. May 6, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  4. ^ "EXCL: 1st Mr. Fox pic!". JoBlo.com. July 10, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  5. ^ Max Evry (October 9, 2008). "Talking to City of Ember Mayor Bill Murray". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
  6. ^ a b "The Darjeeling Limited: Who needs a film set in LA when you have a speeding train in India?". The Telegraph. November 17, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  7. ^ "Selick Crazy For Fox". Sci Fi Wire. December 15, 2004. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  8. ^ "Selick no longer at work on The Fantastic Mr. Fox". Ain't It Cool News. February 15, 2006. Retrieved July 11, 2006.
  9. ^ a b c Joe Utichi (November 22, 2007). "Interview: Wes Anderson talks Darjeeling Limited and Mr. Fox". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  10. ^ a b Michael Fleming (October 25, 2006). "Fox catches Dahl's Fox". Variety. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  11. ^ Edward Douglas (February 2, 2009). "Henry Selick on Making Coraline". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
  12. ^ Steve Prokopy (February 2, 2009). "Capone Talks with CORALINE Director and Wizard Master Henry Selick!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
  13. ^ Brent DiCrescenzo (July 17, 2008). "From the UK to the Magic Kingdom". Time Out. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  14. ^ http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/09/21/fantastic-mr-fox-soundtrack-listing/
  15. ^ Ben Child (July 28, 2009). "Fantastic Mr Fox to open London Film Festival=[[The Guardian]]". Retrieved July 28, 2009. {{cite news}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  16. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
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