Here’s we have a Wes Anderson film, but in animated form. Taking on the story by Roald “James and the Giant Peach” Dahl, it’s still all the quirky characters you would expect, in the form of foxes, badgers, rabbits, dogs, and a myriad of other animals, beastly and human forms alike. And a possum, who has no Latin name because they weren’t in Rome, apparently.
Mr. Fox loves his adventures and challenges. Mrs. Fox puts up with it. Then shit gets real. Preggos and caught, what’s a pair of foxes to do? Jump ahead a few fox years, and things have settled down a bit. But Mr. Fox feels the itch. Their hole isn’t cuttin it anymore, and with a new tree house, brings new adventures, while dealing with his kid, who is a bit...off.
This is a pretty fun little tale with very cool visuals and camerawork that Anderson applies to the stop-motion animated world. Valuable life lessons are learned by all! There’s a lot of great visual gags and nicely illustrated and animated scenes here that are fun to watch play out, if sometimes a bit too quickly to truly appreciate the attention to detail. Even the most jaded can find a few good turns here. This is like the salad to DMR’s usual diet of Beer, Steak, and Beer, so a nice departure from the serious, gory and/or just plain fucked up. PG for the whole family, so there’s that. Even if Mr. Fox is a bit of an egotistical douchebag, he admits it and the constant struggle against one’s own nature. This is a quick-paced slide ride with a side of whack-bat! Fantastic, indeed.
