Fantastic Mr. Fox
Last week I saw Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.
I read a lot about this one before seeing it… The long feature in the New Yorker on Wes Anderson, the interview with Wes Anderson on NPR’s Fresh Air. I read a ton of reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes (who’s reviewers gave it a 92% approval rating).
Almost everyone seems to have loved this film. You should follow the links above to see the glowing praise for yourself.
One thing Wes Anderson has going for him is that most of the people in my life who I respect as cool, creative friends think he is the best director of our generation. In other words, I like people who like Wes Anderson.
I checked in with Netflix to see what their computer thought I would rate the move. Now, I’ve rated 584 movies in Netflix so far, so when they predict a rating based on my tastes, they are almost always right on… They said I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars, which means that I thought it was OK but nothing to blog about. That was an ominous sign, but I decided to go see it anyway.
I also read a fan review that said this was the best film since Wallace and Gromit, another ominous sign…
Honestly, I just don’t connect to Wes Anderson films and felt the same way about this one. I think they are funny, creative and quirky. Those are all good things. I like Bill Murray and Owen Wilson (who are in most of his films), so that is a good thing.
I like stop motion movies, both Coraline and Nightmare Before Christmas are in my all time top-ten favorite movie list. I even liked all the interviews I heard or read with Wes Anderson. He seems like a person that I would get along with. So, that is all good.
It seems like this movie had all the ingredients for a movie to really wow me. The problem is that all these ingredients never came together in a way that connects to my soul or to my life experience. I’m sure this says more about who I am than about the film, but it remains that I never got deeper into this movie than snickering at the “cuss” substitutions and tapping my foot to the funky music choices.
I never felt myself identifying with any of the characters or loosing myself in the fantasy world that was created. Apparently 92% of the world thinks differently, so that’s awesome. I’m just not feeling that certain je ne sais quoi.
I gave it 3 out of 5 stars and will probably enjoy the behind-the-scenes special features on DVD as much as the movie itself. Man, that computer over there in the Netflix server farm has me figured out…
Tags: bill murray, coraline, imdb, netflix, new yorker, npr, owen wilson, rotten tomatoes, stop motion, top ten, wes anderson
“The 3D timelines look absolutely stunning”
Interesting thoughts. I’ve not seen it so can’t comment directly, but having seen most of Anderson’s films I wonder if I try and like them more than I do because friends and critics see things I don’t really see.
I think the first one I saw was The Royal Tenenbaums. After seeing it I thought it was okay, another movie about dysfunctional families, so what? After seeing more of Anderson’s movies I became more aware of the kinds of stories he tells and one can see what kind of writer/director he is. Seeing that film again a few years later and I can appreciate and enjoy it a little bit more, but at the end of the day it’s another movie about a dysfunctional family though with Anderson’s unique storytelling, and it has a stellar cast, which certainly helps to elevate it.
It’s interesting when you talk about films that “connect with your soul” with those special ingredients that we can’t really quantify. I think that it’s perhaps a good thing that very few movies can do this as it keeps it magical. We can enjoy good movies and be entertained, but the next level really is to touch one’s inner core in a way that movies seldom do regularly.
For me Anderson’s breakthrough film was The Darjeeling Limited, which I genuinely love. This speaks to me in a way the others hadn’t so far so I hold this in high regard.