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May 21, 2012

Blogs / Talk About Arts / November 2009 / Wes Anderson's fantastic return

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Wes Anderson's fantastic return

I rented Wes Anderson’s debut film, Bottle Rocket, as a cinema-obsessed sixteen-or-so-year-old, and instantly was floored. There was something about it that felt … different. Dignan?! Kumar?! James Cann playing the piano?! It’s still a favorite, as is Anderson’s follow-up, Rushmore.

 

The Royal Tenenbaums showed evidence of real growth; everything was larger, from the story to the details. But I found The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou a bit of a maudlin setback. I still liked it, but not as much as the others. And The Darjeeling Limited was a nice, sweeter film than Zissou, but rewatching it several months ago, it just didn’t grip me as Rocket, Rushmore, and Royal did.

 

So the idea of Anderson turning to a stop-motion animated film based on Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox filled me with concern. Why would he waste his time on such a time-consuming endeavor? Could it possibly feel like a real Wes Anderson film? And how will super-suave George Clooney fit in the Wes world?

 

I am utterly thrilled to report how wrong I was. Fantastic Mr. Fox feels like a Wes Anderson film in every way, a filled-to-the-gills-with-details, lovingly crafted, funny, heartwarming treat that works for kids and adults.

 

As this is not exactly a review, I’m not going to go into too much plot detail—a Google search will accomplish that for you—but I want to stress that I think this is that rare thing: a non-Pixar animated film that entertains in a way that doesn’t feel forced.

 

Much credit goes to the voice cast, specifically (surprise, surprise) Clooney, Willem Dafoe, and especially Jason Schwartzman, who makes Fox’s son Ash a quintessential Anderson hero—easily irritated, governed by his passions, and dealing with some daddy issues. The script, by Anderson and Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach, is full of humor and a surprising level of pathos. And the soundtrack is typically glorious, as Alexandre Desplat’s score segues perfectly into Burl Ives, the Beach Boys, and even Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker. (Loved the Jarvis cameo.)

 

While Fantastic won’t top my list of 2009’s best—I’m still leaning toward Michael Haneke’s White Ribbon, among a few others, like Tarantino’s Basterds—it is a charming, wonderful work that I look forward to watching again. I think Max Fischer would love it, and I can’t imagine any higher praise from an Anderson-ite than that.