I remember reading the book back in grade 4, but forgot about it. Then, I found out about this film, and I was able to recall basic themes. I am pleased to see that Wes Anderson is making his animated film directoral debut with this. I saw the trailer not too long ago, and I can tell that his style is present, while still retaining Roald Dahl’s essence. He signed on because Dahl is one of his heroes. And, the animation is somewhat choppy, but that is what stop-motion sometimes is, as thedriveintheatre mentioned previously. Some stop-motion is more fluid, and cleaner (Corpse Bride is a perfect example of that), but then you have the chopiness of the Aardman and Rankin/Bass productions. The film’s animation reminds me quite a lot of the Rankin/Bass style.
And, also, in adapting the novel, 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.
Wes Anderson provided some insight in to how they recorded the actors which I found intriguing - “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”.
If anyone is interested, there’s a new trailer for this movie in the link I’ll provide below. Personally, I think it looks like lovely stuff and I can’t wait to see it. I’ve been a fan of Wes Anderson for quite a while.
Honestly, I only see this movie doing well if the story is on par with the best. I know that the animation is stylized, but I think it looks awful personally. I’m not saying it has to look good to make a good movie, but it looks almost budget-made to me for some reason. That trailer you posted is much better than the one I saw before, but still, it just seems so out there and corny. I dunno, I’ll wait for your opinions on this one before I spend my money on it.
I saw this movie on the weekend, and it really is fantastic. Please excuse the pun…
It really genuinely is the funniest movie I’ve seen this year, and also one of my favourites of the year. The characters are all completely quirky and out there, the visuals are lovely to look at. Wes Anderson’s symmetry works wonderfully in this film. The story is great, the soundtrack is great, everything is pretty darn great.
I just fear that this movie is ultimately doomed, not being a CGI animted flick and not being a particularly predictable kids movie - I think it will lose out in the end.
I would say the movie is more for adults than it is for kids, but with that said…the kids in our screening seemed to love it just as much.
It does look quite interesting, and I like the animation style used (though some of the characters, especially the foxes, look like a taxidermist has had a field day) but I’m not sure if I’m keen on the Ocean’s 11 slant that’s been taken on this…still, I’d like to see it at some point. The trailers seem to be funny but not in an obvious way, and the dialogue sounds pretty witty, so I’d agree with Mark-E in that I can imagine it being more suited to adults than kids, but yeah, seems like a quirky take on the original book.
I know on the outside it seems like a sort of Ocean’s 11 type heist movie, but to be honest, I think they only marketed it that way because of George Clooney. The movie doesn’t reflect the adverts at all.
I can definitely see how this wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea though, this movie is very much a quirky little piece of work. But if anyone likes any other of Wes Anderson’s movies I doubt they’ll be disappointed.
I’ve seen TV spots for this on the old tube like crazy these past couple of days, and the critics are simply raving about this. It does look quite better to me now than a few months ago, and now that I’ve visited Apple.com, and checked out the link to the trailer again, I found some extra goodies.
The “World of Roald Dahl” featurette is very insightful on how Wes Anderson approached the film, and also features Felicity Dahl (Roald Dahl’s widow). I’ve known about her, as she was an executive producer on Tim’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and worked closely with Tim on it. It was a pleasure to see her again in this video, and to see that see had the same relationship with Wes. I just felt good after viewing it, honestly, and it’s gotten me more intent on seeing the film.
I clicked on the poster to enlarge it, and found an interesting quote Josh Horowitz of MTV: “Proof that PIXAR doesn’t have a monopoly on heartfelt and funny animation.”
The second trailer is wonderful as well, I enjoyed seeing more of the animation. It looks like Wes has taken stop-motion to a whole new place.
I saw it last night, and have to say, I think it may be up there with my film of the year. I loved every second of it. The animation suits the story so well and it is really very funny.
I tend to react in an over-emotional and possessive way to things that really don’t matter in the great scope of life, so bear that in mind…
I’m not sure I can see this until after the Oscars, because I have the sense that this is going to be the Oscar rival to Up in the same way that Persepolis was to Ratatouille, and The Triplets of Belleville was to Nemo - it’s the film with “grown up cred” that will appeal to voters who don’t like commercial mainstream animation. And I’m so “Pro-Up,” I’m not going to be objective here until the tension of Oscar season is over.
That said - I’m not sure how I feel about this. I love stop-motion, and I don’t mind that the animation on this does look (deliberately) quirky and choppy, but my reaction to the clips I’ve seen is more, “Hmm, this looks interesting,” than “Oh, I want to see this!”
In line with everyone who has seen the film above, everyone I know that has seen this has come back with super positive responses - I’m tempted to actually check this out in theatres now.
I’m fine with the natural ‘choppiness’ of stop-motion in 2D films; had some trouble with Coraline in 3D, though.
I just got back from this. If it weren’t for Coraline and Up, this would be the animated film of the year. The animation isn’t nearly as choppy as the trailers make it seem. The environments are all beautifully crafted, and I love the “stage-like” feel that they often had. Other than that, it was very different and funny, and the characters were very interesting. Definitely check it out.
Eh, it’s looks interesting, but it also seems kind of smug. I’ve only seen one Wes Anderson movie, and that was The Royal Tenenbaums. I found it to just be okay, if a little too dry for me. I also don’t like George Clooney at all, even if he’s just voice-acting for this film.
Well, if you really don’t like Wes Anderson’s style, and you can’t stand George Clooney, Fantastic Mr. Fox probably won’t change any of your opinions toward them.
The movie is largely based on the book, but only the first two thirds of the movie, apparently (I haven’t read the book). But I’d definently recommend the movie, it’s really, really funny.
