MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Fantastic Mr. Fox Rated PG

Directed by Wes Anderson.  Animated Feature

Photo © 20th Century Fox
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

It’s getting harder to find movies for young children to enjoy.  While Walden Media produces films based on children’s books (including the C.S. Lewis Narnia series) that seem to respect their source material, many new films take beloved classics and change them almost beyond recognition. 

This year’s film version of Maurice Sendak’s picture book Where the Wild Things Are was a dour psychological meditation about a lonely, angry boy; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was turned into a satire of disaster movies that, while funny, amped up the whimsy of the original book. And now Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox has been turned into a very amusing film for adults.

The films of writer-director Wes Anderson (including Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums) are known for their clever dialogue, ironic plot twists, and beautiful art design.  Anderson is also very interested in how privileged children are often estranged from their parents. 

And so, while Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) is trying to outwit three farmers and build a new life for himself and his family, his son (Jason Schwartzman) is competing for his father’s attention with Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), a cousin who is living with the family. 

Visually, the film is a treat, using stop-motion animation to move the characters around a miniature, detailed storybook world, with some great action scenes to admire.  This film will surprise most people.  I know that I was startled to see the fox go into the henhouse and literally kill chickens.  Foghorn Leghorn never prepared me for this kind of barnyard mortality. 

College students and young adults would probably enjoy this film the most, but I doubt that many will seek this out.  Kudos to the makers of Fantastic Mr. Fox for making a movie that only film critics could truly love. 

And – yes – I really liked this movie.

Pitchfork Rating:
Two halos. (A lively and funny fantasy based on a popular children’s book that is – alas – not really a film for children.)

One picthfork. (Some antisocial behavior by animals and humans; a unique way of swearing, and a few scenes of death.)

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