‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ lives up to its name

“Who am I, Kylie? Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle or a bald eagle? I’m saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you’ll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?”

Mr. Fox is fantastic. His wife, Mrs. Fox, will be the first to tell you this – that is, if Mr. Fox doesn’t tell you first himself. When Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” opens, Mr. Fox and his wife are poaching squabs (“It’s kind of like a pigeon.”). But Mr. Fox makes a mistake, and the couple become caged, doomed to death. It is at this moment that Mrs. Fox reveals she is pregnant, and Mr. Fox vows that if the two make it out alive, he will give up animal poaching and find a more respectable line of work.

Of course, they do escape, and two human years later, Mr. Fox has left his poaching days behind, opting instead to have a (mostly unread) column in a newspaper. His son, Ash, now an adolescent, is very different from the other foxes. His cousin Kristofferson is everything he wishes he were, in part because he wants to be a great athlete, but also because he wants to receive the same praise and respect Kristofferson gets from Mr. Fox.

While Ash struggles with acceptance, Mr. Fox struggles with his own identity. He loves his family, but memories of his former life leave him unfulfilled. He wants to shake things up and find excitement in life again. “Honey, I am seven non-fox years old,” he tells his wife. “My father died at seven and a half. I don’t want to live in a hole anymore, and I’m going to do something about it.”

Mr. Fox and his family leave their hole and move into a tree, conveniently located by the facilities of the infamous farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. All three have different treasures Mr. Fox would love to steal, making the location of the tree prime real estate. And so it begins – with the help of his landlord, Kylie, Mr. Fox begins stealing from Boggis, Bunce and Bean, creating a chain of events that will affect all of his animal friends and quite possibly lead to their demise.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” is based on the Roald Dahl novel of the same name. While the film expands considerably on the relatively short source material, it does so in the spirit of Dahl, even referencing story points from another Dahl Classic, “Danny, the Champion of the World.” Tonally, the film is what we expect from Wes Anderson, but he manages to keep his signature style without disrupting the tone of the original piece.

While “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is an animated film based on a children’s book, it doesn’t pander to children or even feel like it was made for them. It feels like a Wes Anderson movie – complete with The Rolling Stones on the soundtrack and dry, quirky humor.

At its core, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is about the title character’s midlife crisis and how his deception almost causes the death of his family and friends. Lessons are learned, but they are learned the way adults learn them – through contemplation and regret.

The ending of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is particularly laudable. In most children’s films, characters would overcome their obstacles and ultimately live happily ever after. In “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” sure, the good guys win, but the film does not ignore what the characters have lost. That they are able to survive at all is the happy ending – they smile and dance so that they may eat and live another day. 

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” is more than a great animated film. It is a great film, period. The animation should not be ignored – Anderson’s decision to move the camera mostly left and right rather than in and out gives the illusion of a the illustrations in a children’s book come to life – but the fact that these characters are stop motion-controlled animals is essentially irrelevant in terms of the story. But oh, are they are wonder to look at.