Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.

Director:

Wes Anderson

Writers:

Roald Dahl (novel), Wes Anderson (screenplay),

Stars:

George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Clooney	...	Mr. Fox (voice)
Meryl Streep	...	Mrs. Fox (voice)
Jason Schwartzman	...	Ash (voice)
Bill Murray	...	Badger (voice)
Wallace Wolodarsky	...	Kylie (voice) (as Wally Wolodarsky)
Eric Chase Anderson	...	Kristofferson (voice) (as Eric Anderson)
Michael Gambon	...	Franklin Bean (voice)
Willem Dafoe	...	Rat (voice)
Owen Wilson	...	Coach Skip (voice)
Jarvis Cocker	...	Petey (voice)
Wes Anderson	...	Weasel (voice)
Karen Duffy	...	Linda Otter (voice)
Robin Hurlstone	...	Walter Boggis (voice)
Hugo Guinness	...	Nathan Bunce (voice)
Helen McCrory	...	Mrs. Bean (voice)

Storyline

It is the story of one Mr. Fox and his wild-ways of hen heckling, turkey taking and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures. He has to put his wild days behind him and do what fathers do best: be responsible. He is too rebellious. He is too wild. He is going to try "just one more raid" on the three nastiest, meanest farmers that are Boggis, Bunce and Bean. It is a tale of crossing the line of family responsibilities and midnight adventure and the friendships and awakenings of this country life that is inhabited by Fantastic Mr. Fox and his friends.

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Plot Keywords:

Fox | Farmer | Tale | Farm | Cider | 

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Taglines:

George Clooney is The Brains

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action, smoking and slang humor

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [de] Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

25 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fantástico Sr. Zorro

Filming Locations:

Three Mills Studios, Three Mill Lane, Bow, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$265,900 (USA) (13 November 2009)

Gross:

$20,999,103 (USA) (2 April 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Indian Paintbrush, Regency Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of two films released in 2009 to feature a talking fox. The other was Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist. Both films feature actor 'Willem Defoe'.

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Goofs

The rabid beagle's tag reads Canis familiaris, an obsolete classification. Tame dogs (familiaris) are now considered to be a subspecies of the wolf Canis lupus (which Fox correctly identified on the mountain), rather than their own species. Since news of species revisions travels slowly, it is realistic that not everyone has heard of the change.

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Quotes

[Mr. Fox prepares for the final showdown with the farmers]
Mr. Fox: Your tractors uprooted my tree. Your posse hunted my family. Your gunmen kidnapped my nephew. Your rat insulted my wife - and you shot off my tail. I'm not leaving here without that necktie.

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Crazy Credits

The initial end credits play out over the outside shot of Boggis, Bunce and Bean's supermarket.

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Connections

References Les deux Anglaises et le continent (1971)
"Une Petite Ile" is taken from Georges Delerue's score for this film.

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Soundtracks

"The Grey Goose"
Written by Burl Ives
Performed by Burl Ives
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Holy Cuss, This Film Is Great

Giving up his life of a chicken thief because of a child on the way, Mr. Fox gets a job as a newspaper writer and lives underground. Years pass, his child is older and he wants to move to a tree and not feel poor anymore. Along the way he takes in his nephew and decides to steal again, from the three biggest farmers no less. The farmers get wise and start a battle against Mr. Fox, his family and all their creature friends.

At first I didn't know if I wanted to see this, the animation looked really bad. But after thinking about it for a bit, I found that it fit into Anderson's style, it was something that he would do. So I gave the film a shot and I'm glad I did. This film has Anderson's signature style all over it, right down to the obvious voice casting, which has the likes of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, and Willem Dafoe.

A lot of people, and I'm including myself in this bunch, might think nothing of this film. After all, it doesn't have the bright, adventurous feel of the recent Disney/Pixar films that have been dominating the animation scene. I'd even throw Dreamworks into that bunch. Those films are done by people who are at ease in their field, animated director like Brad Bird and John Lasseter know their way around the animation style. Yet here comes auteur Wes Anderson, who has a unique style and sense of comedy. His transition to animation, stop motion animation no less, is smart, funny and a pleasure. Is it his best film? Of course not, but it's one of the more enjoyable ones.

The voice cast all work well, Clooney does a good job as the lead. He has that leadership tone in his voice, that arrogance that is needed for the character. Streep isn't given much to do, so her role as the wife is pretty basic, as is the character. Their son Ash, voice by Bored To Death star Jason Schwartzman was a stand out for me, as was Eric Chase Anderson, as Kristofferson. That name might not sound familiar, that's because his resume only consists of Anderson films. Bill Murray plays a badger and Fox's lawyer, who advises him not to buy the tree house. Fox does anyway and that's why he's in this mess. The animals are really small and live in this world where there are apparently small motorbikes for them to use. They can communicate with the human characters, no one seems to find it odd in this little world they live in. You won't find it odd either, you'll just be enjoying the fun.

Each chapter is subtitled, Fox's Master Plan A, Fox's Master Plan B, etc. They even tell you how time passes in human years and fox years and in a comical bit one human hour compare to one fox hour. You never know how long these hours are in comparison to each other, you don't want to know either, it just adds to the uniqueness of the film. At heart, these characters are still wild animals, as Fox even says this in the film, and the way they eat and "fight" each other proves this.

The film has that Anderson humour and might go over some kids heads. It's dark in some places, as one character dies, but I think they will enjoy it. They won't jump up and down for it like Up, or Finding Nemo. They won't want to go out and buy the latest Mr. Fox stuffed animal or toy. This feels more like a film for adults, it doesn't really cater to the kids, but they will have their bits to laugh at, like the possum who stares blankly at some people for whatever reason.

This film was made from scratch, this world Anderson creates is fun and I had a fun time being in it. The film flies by it's running time and I never found the film dragging. It was in and out. As stated before, the kids might enjoy this, but it's more for adults. There's smoking and there's even a unique way of swearing, which I found funny. The camera movements scream Wes Anderson and if you're a fan, then you will enjoy this very much.

One of my favourite films of the year.