Throwback Thursday Review: 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'

I haven't published Throwback Thursday Reviews these past two weeks for varying reasons, but I have a few exciting updates to share regarding my blog and I'm now back on track to review Fantastic Mr. Fox ahead of Wes Anderson's new stop motion film coming later this month, Isle of Dogs. In regards to late reviews, I watched Blade the other day so that particular Throwback Thursday Review will be coming as soon as I finish writing it. However, I've decided to remove all other delayed reviews from my schedule to free up space. I promise I'll get them eventually at a more appropriate time when they're more relevant (ie. review It (1990) when the It sequel comes out, etc.). If you want to know what you should expect to see from me this month, I plan on publishing Throwback Thursday Reviews of A Wrinkle in Time (2004), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim, and Jurassic Park, new reviews of A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Isle of Dogs, and Ready Player One along with a couple more Star Wars Speculation posts and some Academy Awards coverage this weekend.

Meanwhile, it's also worth mentioning that I'm in the process of updating the format of my "Movie Review" page and I've added an area where you can sign up for email updates. For those confused what that first part means, I have an area that's intended to ease navigation around my blog. On the side, there's a series of tabs that will direct you to pages and I'm currently modifying those pages to be more user-friendly. Now, you'll be directed to the respective review if you click on any of the banner images with my score and watermarked logo on them. Then if you'd like to subscribe to the email list, just go over to the side tabs and you'll find an area entitled "Follow by Email." Just enter in your preferred email address and press "Submit" to be added to the list and I believe you'll be notified via email anytime I publish something.

'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Review

Nominated For: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.

Twelve fox-years (two human-years) after settling down to start a family, Mr. Fox grows tired of his idyllic lifestyle and yearns to satisfy his animalistic urge of raiding farms. Unaware of the consequences, he seizes his ideal opportunity upon moving near the triple farms of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. However, the tenacious farmers unexpectedly retaliate to his schemes so Mr. Fox, his family, and the surrounding animal community are forced deep underground where they must amass their cunning wits and instinctual gifts to emerge victorious against the shrewd farmers.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a feature length stop-motion animated film based on Roald Dahl's famous children's book, which is directed by Wes Anderson and features a screenplay cowritten by Anderson and Noah Baumbach. If you're familiar with Anderson's work, you know what you're in for whenever you see a Wes Anderson production. Anderson's established himself in the industry as a filmmaker with an especially specific style, and it's almost impossible to deny that his approach to making movies is entirely unique. In this case, Anderson actually adapted Dahl's book in such spectacular fashion that he managed to marry his own unique sensibilities as a filmmaker with the spirit of Dahl's source material to the degree you'll believe the union was always meant to be.

 

As a brief aside, I was initially introduced to Wes Anderson through Fantastic Mr. Fox probably seven or eight years ago and I've been drawn to his work ever since! While I haven't explored his filmography extensively, I absolutely adore Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and can't wait to see Isle of Dogs in a few weeks! I'm quite captivated by Wes Anderson's flicks because they're characteristically quirky, colorful, and obsessively symmetrical with a good bit of wry, witty humor to spare. Seeing as Fantastic Mr. Fox was accomplished with the approach of stop-motion animation, the project seemed a perfect match for Anderson's eccentric artistry. 

Stop-motion has to be painstakingly precise if the models are to move with an authentic fluidity when it's all said and done, and I can even speak from personal experience as I dabbled with the medium when I was younger. Which is why I believe Anderson's OCD-like tendencies made him an appropriate artist to tackle this story through this technique. Credit should definitely also be bestowed to the animators for meticulously managing to position the puppets so their movements look genuine and lifelike and, of course, the intricate production design from Nelson Lowry is a nice touch!

Fantastic Mr. Fox isn't just a well-crafted work of stop-motion though... Anderson and Baumbach craftily convey Dahl's story as an exciting, outlandish animal adventure that's energized by a happy-go-lucky soundtrack and supplemental set of cheery compositions from Alexandre Desplat. However, one of the film's most attributed traits is its sharp, hysterical delivery of deadpan dialogue and the imaginative use of farcical situations for amusing interplay. 

As for the illustrious ensemble, Fantastic Mr. Fox features the likes of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson (Wes' brother), Wallace Wolodarsky, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Wes Anderson himself in the varying voice roles of assorted animals and heinous human farmers respectively. Each cast member explores the intricacies of their character in enough of an interesting, unique way that they all stick with you once it's all over. With that being said, Clooney slyly steals the show in a fittingly foxy fashion.

There are many words I could use to describe Fantastic Mr. Fox, but I believe the title hits the nail on the head with the word "fantastic." If you have not experienced this film or any of the entertaining antics of Wes Anderson, I strongly encourage you to dig deep into his filmography where you'll be met by a delightful array of equally excellent films.

Film Assessment: A+

'The BFG' Review

The BFG is an adaptation of the classic children's book The BFG written by Roald Dahl about a Big Friendly Giant (what BFG stands for) who frolics about at night collecting dreams from a magical tree and distributing them to the people of the world. One night, he accidentally catches the attention of a young orphan girl Sophie and kidnaps her to prevent her from blabbering on about a giant in the streets of London, fortunately she was taken by BFG as he's a kindred spirit and all of the other giants are brutish man-eating cannibals. The two quickly become friends and must devise a way to get rid of the villainous giants so that the BFG may carry out his life in serenity. 

That's the plot of The BFG in a nutshell, seems simple right? Well it is quite simple and I summarized it here because I don't feel the marketing material has done the best job of representing what the film is about, something reflected in The BFG's tragic abysmal box office performance last weekend. 

The one of a kind director Steven Spielberg directs the flick and teams with some of his favorite collaborators over the years including the brilliant composer John Williams who has scored a number of Spielberg's films, screenwriter Melissa Mathison who wrote the Spielberg classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and actor Mark Rylance who won an Oscar this year as a result of his work with Spielberg on last year's Bridge Of Spies and those names alone were enough to convince me to see The BFG given I had never heard of the story or read the book before. Spielberg elevates the source material of The BFG to heights I don't believe it could reach on the story's own merit creating an immersive world for families to explore that's both straightforward and goodnatured. 

Spielberg and cinematographer Januz Kaminski have plenty of fun depicting the giants as they takes ordinary objects and makes them miniature decor for the BFG and the Spielberg fills the gaps of logic as to why the BFG has never been discovered with simple visual imagery, lingering on subtle moments such as the water washing away the BFG's footprint in the sand or the BFG disguising himself to blend in with the darkness as he embarks at night. Spielberg's vision is greatly assisted by the masterful visual effects work as Spielberg once again brings feelings of wonderment and awe with the look of the "dreams" and Giant Country. 

There were moments when I couldn't decipher which set pieces were rendered by visual effects artists or tangibly there. For example, the streets of London were either animated to look like London or constructed to appear as a slight caricature of London. To describe the visual effects, I would have to say that the character design is a happy medium to the marvelous realism of this year's The Jungle Book and the somewhat cartoonish yet real video game aesthetic seen to portray the orcs in this year's Warcraft. 

That may sound a bit strange, but it works as the the BFG actually looks like the splitting image of Mark Rylance with some exaggerated features, the cartoonish demeanor I was referring to. The other mean spirited giants also get the same treatment and certainly look menacing but are all flat one dimensional "bad guys", they all have generic malevolent names but beyond that just bully the BFG so don't be surprised if I don't bring them up again as they weren't particularly memorable antagonists but a nice fit for a simple children's story. And on that note, the film's greatest weakness is it's story. 

The screenplay penned by Melissa Mathison probably wasn't altered after she unfortunately lost her battle with cancer last year and I don't think Spielberg was in the wrong for choosing to not make alterations to the script and let her last work ring on, but on that same note I'm unsure that this was her finished product as there's a few unnecessary sequences that make the film drag on and seem a tad boring. 

The film also has the shortest anti-climactic ending where everything is conveniently resolved in a matter of ten minutes. While there are moments in Mathison's script that evoke warm feelings, I don't believe it measures up to her previous work on E.T. I'm unsure if the lackluster story is a result of the source material itself, given I've never read it, or lies in Spielberg's compulsion to honor both Roald Dahl and Mathison's work. Elsewhere, the film features a new score from composer John Williams, a rare treat these days, and I can say it does a great job instilling feelings of awe and wonderment as Sophie and the audience are introduced to Giant Country. 

The sense of awe is only intensified by the film's cast lead by child actor Ruby Barnhill as the spunky orphan Sophie and Mark Rylance as The Big Friendly Giant. Barnhill delivers a wonderful child performance she had to act opposite plenty of green screens to bring the giants to life and she makes the world and magic that much more convincing. 

Rylance brings a lovable demeanor and gravitas to the BFG through voice work and motion capture that's quite different from his award winning role in Bridge of Spies and breaks out of what I was expecting to be derivative characteristics he would carry forth to all his roles. Rylance nails the "Giant Speak" and mannerisms you would expect from an excessively large humanoid and thanks to motion capture ensures his subtle facial expressions are carried forth to inject heart into the large creature. At it's core the film succeeds thanks to the unbelievably charming kindred friendship between Rylance and Barnhill. I was amazed at how well the young actress acted opposite an Academy Award winner and can't wait to see what projects she will take part in next! 

There's not too much of a cast in the film though with supporting players introduced in the final act including Penelope Wilton as the Queen, Rebecca Hall and Rafe Spall as Mary and Mr. Tibbs, respective servants to her Majesty. As I said earlier, the other giants aren't particularly worth mentioning as they're purely one-dimensional bullies, but Jermaine Clement's Fleshlumpeater is the best of the bunch. 

When it comes down to it though, The BFG is technically astounding, but fails to captivate interest in its lackadaisical story. The BFG may not be Spielberg's greatest work, but it's charming worthwhile family friendly entertainment that's hard to come by these days that I think children will love and adults will be pleasantly surprised by thanks to gorgeous visual imagery, fantastic direction, a magical score, and some truly wonderful performances. 

Film Assessment: B-