The Fantastic Mr. Fox: Your New Seasonal Comfort Movie
By: Reilly Drummond
Fall in Edmonton is short-lived, and there can be a strange pressure to enjoy it before it’s over. If cozy sweaters and cups of tea aren’t getting you excited about the changing leaves and early sunsets, I strongly recommend you spend an afternoon with Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Based on the book by Roald Dahl, the film follows Mr. Fox (George Clooney) as he tries to balance his family life with his egotistical desire to “make it big,” primarily through bold and risky plots to steal from farmers. Upon finding out that his wife Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) is pregnant, Mr. Fox promises to give up his dangerous line of work, but this proves to be short-lived. Mr. Fox’s overzealous heists snowball into a near war between bloodthirsty farmers and the woodland animal community, and schemes upon schemes seem to only raise the stakes. While this synopsis does not seem to describe a comforting autumnal watch, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is, at its core, about sticking together as a family against the odds– you are bound to walk away from it with a warm fuzzy feeling. It maintains this comfort visually, too: the film’s fall landscapes push the concept of autumn into near psychedelia; I still can’t look at the colour orange without being brought back into those infinitely rolling hills and cloudless sunsets. The stop-motion animation captures the energy of the film in quite a charming way, but the puppets have a lack of emotivity that takes some getting used to. To put it simply, the animals look kinda weird, made from real hair and (hopefully) fake teeth, but this perfectly lends itself to Anderson’s dry sense of humour and the film’s sheer absurdity. While it is not the most talked-about piece in his filmography, I consider The Fantastic Mr. Fox quintessential Wes Anderson: the characters are as quirky as the dialogue is snappy, and every frame is beautifully and meticulously crafted. The cast—most notably Bill Murray as Badger and Jason Shwartzman as Ash, with colourful cameos from Owen Wilson and Willem Dafoe—turn out incredibly genuine performances as silly little animals. Thanks to co-writer Noah Baumbach, who has recently brought us Marriage Story and Barbie, moments between Mr. and Mrs. Fox especially shine. The combination of excellent writing and top-tier performances really keeps you from questioning why you are brought to tears by the struggling marriage of two fox puppets who live in a hollowed-out tree. While The Fantastic Mr. Fox can be considered a ‘children’s movie’ with its PG rating and talking animals, it tackles adult themes and wears its simplicity like a badge of honour. The film is gloriously self-aware, often in comedic ways, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And to top it all off, the runtime is airtight in under 90 minutes, making it a perfect comfort-watch to sneak in between lectures and textbook readings (and if you have Disney+, it’s available to watch for free there)! Before the snow falls, I highly recommend you give The Fantastic Mr. Fox a try.
