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Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)

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Fantastic Mr. Fox
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWes Anderson
Screenplay by
Based onFantastic Mr Fox
by Roald Dahl
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTristan Oliver[1]
Edited byAndrew Weisblum[1]
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • October 14, 2009 (2009-10-14) (London Film Festival)
  • November 13, 2009 (2009-11-13) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[4]
Box office$46.5 million[4]

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop motion animated comedy film directed by Wes Anderson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach. The project is based on the 1970 children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson star. The plot follows the titular character Mr. Fox (Clooney), as his spree of thefts results in his family, and later his community, being hunted down by three farmers known as Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guinness), and Bean (Michael Gambon).

Development on the project began in 2004 as a collaboration between Anderson and Henry Selick (who worked with Anderson on the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) under Revolution Studios. In 2007, Revolution and Selick left for other projects; work on the film was moved to 20th Century Fox where production began in 2007. Released in the United States on November 13, 2009, to critical acclaim, with praise for Anderson’s direction, humor, and stop-motion animation. However, it underperformed at the box office, grossing just $46.5 million against a $40 million budget. The film received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing the award to Up.

Plot

While raiding Berk's Squab Farm, Mr. Fox triggers a fox trap caging himself along with his wife Felicity. Felicity reveals to her husband that she is pregnant and pleads with him to find a safer job if they escape, and he agrees.

Two human years (12 fox years) later, the Foxes and their son Ash are living in a hole. Mr. Fox, now a newspaper columnist, moves the family into a better home inside a tree, ignoring the warnings of his lawyer, about how dangerous the area is for foxes due to its proximity to facilities run by three feared farmers: Boggis (a chicken farmer), Bunce (a duck and goose farmer) and Bean (a turkey and apple farmer).

Soon after the Foxes move in, Felicity's nephew, Kristofferson Silverfox, comes to live with them. Ash finds this situation intolerable; his cousin is superior to him at almost everything, and everyone is charmed by Kristofferson. Longing for his days as a thief, Mr. Fox and his friend Kylie, an opossum, steal produce and poultry from all three farms for three straight nights. Angered, the farmers decide to kill Mr. Fox. They camp out near his home, and when Mr. Fox emerges, they open fire but only manage to shoot off his tail. After demolishing the site of the tree while attempting to dig Mr. Fox out, they discover the Foxes have dug an escape tunnel. As the Foxes will have to surface for food and water, the farmers wait at the tunnel mouth. Underground, Felicity is upset that Mr. Fox returned to his thieving ways.

The group later encounters Badger and many other local animal residents whose homes have also been destroyed by the farmers. As the animals begin fearing starvation, Mr. Fox leads them on a digging expedition to tunnel to the three farms, robbing them.

While the other animals feast, Ash and Kristofferson begin to reconcile after Kristofferson defends Ash from a bully. The cousins return to Bean's farm, intending to reclaim the missing tail but Kristofferson gets captured.

Discovering that Mr. Fox has stolen their produce, the farmers and the fire chief flood the animals' tunnel network with some of Bean's cider, trapping the animals in the sewers.

Realizing that the farmers plan to use Kristofferson to lure him into an ambush, Mr. Fox heads to the surface to surrender, but returns when Rat, Bean's security guard, confronts the animals and attacks Ash and Felicity. A fight between Mr. Fox and Rat results in the latter being pushed into a generator, electrocuting him. Before dying, Rat reveals Kristofferson's location. Mr. Fox asks the farmers for a meeting in town near the sewer hub where he would surrender in exchange for Kristofferson's freedom.

The farmers prepare an ambush, but the animals, anticipating it, launch a counterattack that allows Mr. Fox, Ash, and Kylie to enter Bean's farm undetected. Ash frees Kristofferson and braves enemy fire to release a rabid beagle to keep the farmers at bay, allowing the group to escape.

As the farmers fruitlessly wait for the animals to come out of the hole, the animals soon settle into their new homes in the sewers, inviting any other animals to join them. Soon after, Fox raids a grocery store belonging to Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, where Felicity reveals she's pregnant again as the animals dance in the aisle.

Cast

Production

Joe Roth and Revolution Studios bought the film rights to Fantastic Mr Fox in 2004. In 2006, Mark Mothersbaugh stated that he was working on the soundtrack.[5] Wes Anderson signed on as director with Henry Selick, who worked with Anderson on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as animation director. Anderson stated that he signed on because Roald Dahl was one of his heroes.[6] Originally, Cate Blanchett was to voice Mrs. Fox, but she left the role for undisclosed reasons.[7]

The story the novel covers would amount to the second act of the film. Anderson added new scenes to serve for the film's beginning and end.[8] The new scenes precede Mr. Fox's plan to steal from the three farmers and follow the farmers' bulldozing of the hill, beginning with the flooding of the tunnel. Selick left the project, to work on the Neil Gaiman story Coraline in February 2006.[9] He was replaced by Mark Gustafson.[10] 20th Century Fox Animation became the project's home in October 2006 after Revolution left for other projects.

In September 2007, Anderson announced voice work would begin.[11] The director chose to record the voices outside rather than in a studio: "we went out in a forest, [...] went in an attic, [and] went in a stable. We went underground for some things. There was a great spontaneity in the recordings because of that."[10] The voices were recorded before any animation was done.[12]

Anderson said of the production design, "we want to use real trees and real sand, but it's all miniature."[11] Great Missenden, where Roald Dahl lived, has a major influence on the film's look.[6] The film mixes several forms of animation but consists primarily of stop motion.[13] Animation took place in London,[10] on Stage C at 3 Mills Studios and the puppets are created by Mackinnon & Saunders,[14] with Anderson directing the crew, many of whom animated Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.[15] Selick, who kept in contact with Anderson, said the director would act out scenes while in Paris and send them to the animators via iPhone.[16]

Music

The score for the film was composed by Alexandre Desplat. Jarvis Cocker commented that he wrote "three, four" songs for the film, one of which was included on the soundtrack ("Fantastic Mr. Fox A.K.A. Petey's Song").[17] The soundtrack also contains a selection of songs by The Beach Boys, The Bobby Fuller Four, Burl Ives, Georges Delerue, The Rolling Stones, and other artists. A soundtrack album for the film was released on November 3, 2009.[18]

Release

The film had its world premiere as the opening film of the 53rd edition of the London Film Festival on October 14, 2009.[19] 20th Century Fox released it theatrically on November 13, 2009. Fantastic Mr. Fox grossed $21,002,919 in the U.S., and $25,468,104 outside the U.S., making a total of $46,471,023 worldwide.[4]

Home media

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the DVD and Blu-ray on March 23, 2010.[20] The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray and DVD on February 18, 2014.[21]

On streaming, Fantastic Mr. Fox was added on Disney+ in the US and Canada on May 22, 2020.[22] It is yet to be added to the UK and Australian versions of the platform.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 243 reviews and an average rating of 7.90/10. The site's consensus states: "Fantastic Mr. Fox is a delightfully funny feast for the eyes with multi-generational appeal – and it shows Wes Anderson has a knack for animation."[23] The film also became the second highest-rated animated film in 2009 on the site, behind Up. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[25]

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing that, like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, children may find some aspects of the film perplexing or scary, which he considered a positive element to a children's film.[26] A. O. Scott called Fantastic Mr. Fox "in some ways (Wes Anderson's) most fully realized and satisfying film. Once you adjust to its stop-and-start rhythms and its scruffy looks, you can appreciate its wit, its beauty and the sly gravity of its emotional undercurrents. The work done by the animation director, Mark Gustafson, by the director of photography, Tristan Oliver, and by the production designer, Nelson Lowry, shows amazing ingenuity and skill, and the music (by Alexandre Desplat, with the usual shuffle of well-chosen pop tunes, famous and obscure) is both eccentric and just right."[27] Devin D. O'Leary of Weekly Alibi called it "a one-of-a-kind family classic".[28]

According to Time, the film is "both a delightful amusement and a distillation of the filmmaker's essential playfulness"[29] and was one of the ten best films of the year.[30] Cosmo Landesman of The Sunday Times said "having a quirky auteur like Anderson make a children's film is a bit like David Byrne, of Talking Heads, recording an album of nursery rhymes produced by Brian Eno"; according to Landesman, "in style and sensibility, this is really a Wes Anderson film, with little Dahl. It's missing the darker elements that characterise Dahl's books. There you find the whiff of something nasty: child abuse, violence, misogyny. Gone, too, is any sense of danger. Even the farmers, who are made to look a touch evil, don't seem capable of it. We never feel the tension of watching the Fox family facing real peril. The film certainly has Americanized Dahl's story, and I don't mean the fact that the good animals have American accents and the baddies have British ones. It offers yet another celebration of difference and a lesson on the importance of being yourself. But it does leave you thinking: isn't it time that children's films put children first?"[31]

Amy Biancolli from the Houston Chronicle stated that "Anderson injects such charm and wit, such personality and nostalgia — evident in the old-school animation, storybook settings and pitch-perfect use of Burl Ives — that it's easy to forgive his self-conscious touches."[32]

Ann Hornaday from the Washington Post calls it a "self-consciously quirky movie that manages to be twee and ultra-hip at the same time, it qualifies as yet another wry, carefully composed bibelot in the cabinet of curios that defines the Anderson oeuvre."[33] Peter Howell from the Toronto Star stated that "[i]n an age when everything seems digital, computer-driven and as fake as instant coffee, more and more artists (Spike Jonze and John Lasseter among them) are embracing the old ways of vinyl records, hand-drawn cartoons and painstaking stop-motion character movements."[34] In 2011, Richard Corliss of TIME magazine named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".[35]

Awards

The film was nominated for the 2010 Critics Choice Awards for Best Animated Feature,[36] the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film,[37] the 2010 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Academy Award for Best Original Score;[38] but ultimately lost all the nominations to Up.

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result
Academy Awards March 7, 2010 Best Animated Feature Wes Anderson Nominated
Best Original Score Alexandre Desplat Nominated
Annie Awards February 6, 2010 Best Animated Feature Wes Anderson Nominated
Directing in a Feature Production Wes Anderson Nominated
Writing in a Feature Production Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Won
BAFTA Awards February 15, 2010 Best Original Music Alexandre Desplat Nominated
Best Animated Film Wes Anderson Nominated
Critics' Choice Movie Awards January 15, 2010 Best Adapted Screenplay Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Nominated
Best Animated Feature Wes Anderson Nominated
Golden Globe Awards January 15, 2010 Best Animated Feature Wes Anderson Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle December 14, 2009 Best Picture Wes Anderson 3rd Place
Best Animated Film Wes Anderson Won
Best Director Wes Anderson 2nd Place
Best Actor George Clooney (also for Up in the Air) Won
Online Film Critics Society January 5, 2010 Best Adapted Screenplay Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Won
Best Animated Film Wes Anderson Nominated
Best Original Score Alexandre Desplat Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society December 15, 2009 Best Adapted Screenplay Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Won
Best Animated Film Wes Anderson Nominated
Best Original Score Alexandre Desplat Nominated
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle December 14, 2009 Best Adapted Screenplay Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Won

It was also nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics. Alexandre Desplat won Soundtrack Composer of the Year and World Soundtrack of the Year at the 2010 World Soundtrack Awards.[39] On January 14, 2010, the National Board of Review awarded Anderson a Special Filmmaking Achievement award.[40]

After giving his acceptance speech, the audio of the speech was used in a short animation of Anderson's character (Weasel) giving the speech, animated by Payton Curtis, a key stop-motion animator on the film.[41]

References

  1. ^ a b McCarthy, Todd (October 14, 2019). "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Variety. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  2. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  3. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)". British Film Institute. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  5. ^ "Devo Is Dead. Long Live Devo". Wired. May 2006. Archived from the original on November 7, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  6. ^ a b Gritten, David (November 17, 2007). "The Darjeeling Limited: Who needs a film set in LA when you have a speeding train in India?". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  7. ^ "EXCL: 1st Mr. Fox pic!". JoBlo.com. July 10, 2009. Archived from the original on July 12, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  8. ^ "Selick Crazy For Fox". Sci Fi Wire. December 15, 2004. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  9. ^ "Selick no longer at work on The Fantastic Mr. Fox". Ain't It Cool News. February 15, 2006. Archived from the original on May 7, 2006. Retrieved July 11, 2006.
  10. ^ a b c Joe Utichi (November 22, 2007). "Interview: Wes Anderson talks Darjeeling Limited and Mr. Fox". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 23, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  11. ^ a b Josh Horowitz (September 26, 2007). "Wes Anderson Enlists Bill Murray For 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox'". MTV Movies Blog. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2007.
  12. ^ "George Clooney, Bill Murray and Wes Anderson Interview". Flicks and Bits. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
  13. ^ Michael Fleming (October 25, 2006). "Fox catches Dahl's Fox". Variety. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  14. ^ "Who Are the Animators on Fantastic Mr. Fox?". Lineboil. January 12, 2010. Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  15. ^ Edward Douglas (February 2, 2009). "Henry Selick on Making Coraline". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on March 27, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
  16. ^ Steve Prokopy (February 2, 2009). "Capone Talks with CORALINE Director and Wizard Master Henry Selick!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
  17. ^ Brent DiCrescenzo (July 17, 2008). "From the UK to the Magic Kingdom". Time Out. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  18. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox Soundtrack Listing". Slashfilm.com. September 21, 2009. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  19. ^ Ben Child (July 28, 2009). "Fantastic Mr Fox to open London Film Festival". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  20. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Amazon.com. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  21. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – The Criterion Collection". Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  22. ^ "What's New on Disney Plus in May 2020: Movies and TV Shows". Collider. April 17, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  23. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on January 30, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  24. ^ "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
  25. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  26. ^ "I feel a strange compulsion to pet that fuzzy fox fur". Roger Ebert. November 24, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  27. ^ Scott, A. O. (November 13, 2009). "Don't Count Your Chickens". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 28, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  28. ^ "Picture-book classic mixes the familiar and the stylish with imaginative results". Weekly Alibi. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  29. ^ Pols, Mary (November 13, 2009). "Wes Anderson's Return to Form". Time. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  30. ^ Corliss, Richard (December 8, 2009). "Wes Anderson's Return to Form". Time. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  31. ^ Landesman, Cosmo (October 25, 2009). "The Fantastic Mr Fox". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  32. ^ Biancolli, Amy. "A fantastic Mr. Fox — quirks and all". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  33. ^ Hornaday, Ann (November 27, 2009). "Ann Hornaday on 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' with George Clooney". TheWashington Post. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  34. ^ Howell, Peter. "Fantastic Mr. Fox: The hipster and the chicken thief". The Toronto Star. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  35. ^ Richard Corliss (June 23, 2011). "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films – Fantastic Mr. Fox". TIME. Archived from the original on August 16, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  36. ^ "15th Annual Critics Choice Award Nominees". ScreenCrave. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  37. ^ "Nominations and Winners". Hollywood Foreign Press Assoc. Archived from the original on December 11, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  38. ^ "82nd Academy Awards nominees". AMPAS. Archived from the original on April 8, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  39. ^ "World Soundtrack Awards 2010". Worldsoundtrackacademy.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  40. ^ "National Board of Review: Special Filmmaking Achievement award list". National Board of Review. Archived from the original on January 31, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  41. ^ FANTASTIC MR. FOX – Wes Anderson's Animated Acceptance Speech. FoxSearchlight. January 13, 2010. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2011 – via YouTube.
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