Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Like/Don't Like: Fantastic!

This movie is kind of awesome. It's quirky. It's funny. It has great music. And Bill Murray. And it has a real home-made feel to it. It's 100% Wes Anderson, which means that even puppet animals wear skinny short pants and talk into Dictaphones. (Side note: I watched this movie last night. And this morning I happened to catch the last 15 minutes of The Life Aquatic and I have to say that stop action animation seems to be the perfect fit for Wes Anderson. It's as if his live action films could only take him so far in creating the world that's in his head.)

There is also an immense attention to detail that I thought was brilliant. Every scene was filled with little tiny items that could easily have been looked over but added a very complete, homey, warm feel to it. Like the corduroy jacket on Foxy, or Mrs. Fox's pair of scissors she always had on her. It made me wish I could reach my hand in and touch everything. Years ago I watched a documentary on doll house enthusiasts. It showed them scouring the country for months to find just the right wee sized chair or picture frame and, frankly, it freaked me out. But here it made sense. Had I been on the design team I can completely see myself staying up all night to hand stitch a track suit or make a teeny chair cushion because it all just seemed so magical.

1 comment:

Rach said...

Okay. I'll see it. I trust that it's good. Tim and I saw a preview for it, looked at each other and said, "Huh?" But since you loved it, I know I will too. It's going onto the netflix list right now.