AFI Fest Hollywood: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

So I just finished a 5 day stint at the AFI Film Festival in Hollywood, and as such, saw about 15 films in that span, when I wasn't stalking Billy Murray on Hollywood Boulevard. One of those flicks was Wes Anderson's newest opus, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Scwartzman, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson, and based on the story by the classic children's author, Roald Dahl. The film centers on the story of the titular Mr. Fox, as he's coming to a turning point in his life. As much as he the thrill of stealing chickens from local farmers, it's time to settle down and raise his family, but only after he takes on the meanest farmers around for one last score.

The story, as with most of Anderson's films, is negligible because what really matters are the characters and the world Anderson creates. He's kinda like Tim Burton in that sense, only without becoming a caricature of himself. The characters and world on Fantastic Mr. Fox are unforgettably perfect for the film, and help to set that which Wes Anderson is a master of, tone. Like The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Anderson sets a quirky, comedic tone that makes watching the film feel like a trip to that wierd part of the city that your parents never want you to go to, but you do and they have awesome by-the-slice pizzarias.

The acting in the film, both voice and puppet, is also incredibly strong. You get the feeling that these creepy little creatures are really alive. The voice talent is obvious, there's not a single miscast actor here, and I kinda want George Clooney to start doing audio books or at least narrating documentaries about penguins because his voice is awesome. But the stop motion animation is also a key factor here. Anyone who saw Coraline earlier this year knows that stop motion has advanced to a place where it's almost indistinguishable from CGI, and that's great and incredibly impressive, but it lacks a certain flawed charm. The real joy in the stop motion for Fantastic Mr. Fox is that it's not perfect. It's reminiscient of Rankin Bass animation, or the Willis O'Brien King Kong stuff where you see the fingerprints of teh animators on the fur. The movie has a built in sense of nostalgia due to this that makes you feel almost like you're rediscovering it rather than seeing it for the first time.

So anyone that's already a fan of Anderson will have lots to love here. It's not his best film, but it ranks up there, and it's a Wes Anderson film you can show kids, which I find to be delightful and a bit disturbing. People who aren't fans of Anderson should check this out too, if only for the hilarious characcters and nostalgic animation.

Top Five Reasons Why FernGully Is Noteworthy

FernGully: The Last Rainforest was released back in 1992 when Disney wasn’t the only animation company in the US. It follows a young precocious fairy (with a dash of 90s ‘tude) named Crysta (Samantha Mathis) as she becomes the defender of her jungle home from the likes of an evil ooze demon named Hexxus (Tim Curry). Along the way she receives help from a lab-tested bat named Batty (Robin Williams), Christian Slater as a fairy as himself and a construction worker turned environmentalist, Zack (John Ward).

Receiving mixed reviews at the time, FernGully is mostly remembered for its intense environmental themes. However, I believe there are five reasons why we should acknowledge this film as a seminal piece of animation, or at the very least something that we can watch with a couple of beers and enjoy.

1. Robin Williams’ vocal workout as Batty
Released only eight months before Robin Williams’ classic voicing of the Genie it’s obvious that Batty was an experiment and a precursor of what was to come.

He had the best lines such as, “Human tails? Humans don't have tails. They have big, big bottoms that they wear with bad shorts. They walk around going, ‘Hi, Helen’,” and his manic behavior is disturbing in a wonderfully hilarious way.

2. Tim Curry as sexy scary Hexxus
If Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Pennywise had a deliriously evil child it would be Hexxus, the oily villain that takes the time to sing one of the freakiest and funkiest animated songs of all time, “Toxic Love.” Never has black oil turned me on so much.

3. Environmentalism has never been so Fascist
And we thought Al Gore was preachy. Its “All humans are bad and nature is good mantra,” is quite overdone today, but the imagery of disastrous human treatment towards the environment is still shocking even by today’s standards.

4. It’s timelessness...oh wait Tone Loc’s in this?
Unlike many classic Disney 2D films and Pixar, FernGully had a few instances of shameless modern references: a sequence where the human Zak teaches the fairies about rock ‘n’ roll and 90s lingo like “bodacious” and the aforementioned Tone Loc appearance as a lizard that raps before he eats his prey.

And yet these references seem very light compared to any current animated film and even the highly regarded Shrek series (Fairbucks…really?).

5. Great preparation for Cameron’s Avatar this winter
Incase you weren’t blown away by a giant blue Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, the nearly wordless and senseless teaser and the anticipation of James Cameron’s first fiction film since Titanic watch FernGully to get a better idea of what the plot might resemble. Yeah.

Yes, FernGully: The Last Rainforest isn’t a perfect film. It is overly sentimental and incredibly predictable, but it holds up as an entertaining, potent and quirky film that stands out amongst the sanitized kids films of today.

Oh yeah if these reasons didn’t convince you I have two words: Knife fight. Oh yeah.





Link:
FernGully: The Last Rainforest on IMDB