When I first started seeing the trailers for Fantastic Mr. Fox, I had mixed feelings toward it – although what the trailers showed looked good, and I am a fan of Wes Anderson as a director, I know it isn’t easy to get a kids movie done right either.  Well, I gave Fantastic Mr. Fox a chance this afternoon at our favorite Long Beach theater, The Art Theatre on 4th Street.  I have to say it was a chance that really paid off – it was fantastic!

Wes Anderson definitely has his signature style, something you are probably already familiar with if you’ve seen his other films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited).  I wasn’t sure how much that could translate to this stop-motion animated film, but somehow it did and really gave the whole picture warmth.  The voice cast was also comprised of Anderson film veterans (Bill Murray and Owen Wilson among them), and featured 60’s and 70’s classic rock songs as well as a new song from Jarvis Cocker.

The story itself is based on a story written by Roald Dahl, published in 1970, and although it is not one of his better known stories (such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, or Matilda), it is surely a classic and has a timeless feel.

A lot of movies can say it has something for both kids and adults, but Fantastic Mr. Fox really does.  The story is simple enough for kids to follow and is visually refreshing – sometimes you get your fill of the computer animation that has become the norm for kids movies today.  If you haven’t seen it, see it!  You’ll have a cussing good time.

Before I went to see “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” I wanted to get a taste of Wes Anderson’s distinct style.  So I took a friend’s recommendation and watched “The Royal Tenenbaums,” which is this week’s “F.I.L.M.” (First-Class, Independent Little-Known Movie).  I am now officially smitten by the quirky, off-beat humor that people love about Anderson.  He has a very cultish, niche audience, but “The Royal Tenenbaums” managed to make a blip on the mainstream radar.  It made a respectable $52 million (attendance comparable to “The Final Destination”), won a Golden Globe for Gene Hackman’s performance, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.  But for a large group of moviegoers who haven’t experienced Wes Anderson, might I suggest renting this?  You’re really missing out if you haven’t.

The film follows a dysfunctional family that has fallen apart, mainly due to the large egos of the three extremely bright children.  Chas (Ben Stiller) is a successful enterpreneur by his early teens, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a skilled playwright who is published by high school, and Ritchie (Luke Wilson) finds great success with the game of tennis.  But for different reasons, they all wind up miserable.  Surprisingly, it is their estranged father, Royal Tenebaum (Gene Hackman) who ends this unhappy spell.  With his eccentric and often manipulative ways, he often infuriates them.  But he has a certain charm that has the power to ease the pain of disappointment and fill the gap he has left in their lives with his absence.

One thing that I particularly enjoyed about “The Royal Tenenbaums” is that I could sense Wes Anderson had as much fun making this movie as I did watching it.  He ornately concocts these bizarre characters that seem so far-fetched, yet they hit home in unexpected and delightful ways.  Anderson makes his presence felt throughout the entire movie.  You can feel it in the cinematography, consisting of deliberately framed geometric shots.  You can feel it in the soundtrack, a mix of folk and rock that really sets the atmosphere for his quirky work.  You can even feel it in the font he uses for the titles.  If you were like me, questioning what could possibly make Wes Anderson so special, watch “The Royal Tenenbaums” to be silenced and completely won over.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, flanked by loyal Opossum and demolitions expert Beaver.

x

What else are we thankful for this Thanksgiving? Well, for starters, the superb Fantastic Mr. Fox. As children, neither of us read this particular Roald Dahl book, and we didn’t know what we were getting into except that it was directed by one of our favorites, Wes Anderson.

Fantastic Mr. Fox was filmed using stop motion animation and wasn’t short on chapter titles, one of Anderson’s highly stylized tricks, to mark different scenes. The voices (George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, among others) and dialogue are pitch-perfect. Of course Bill Murray would play a badger, of course Michael Gambon was the skinny, slightly-crazed and drunk corporate villain, and of course Owen Wilson was the Whackbat coach. (What’s Whackbat? See the film to find out; we promise it’s cooler than quidditch.)

The film is visually stunning and the music catchy, but like Anderson’s other films, Fox sticks with the viewer because of individual moments. It’s hard not to tear up when Mrs. Fox tells her husband that she’s pregnant; it’s difficult not to laugh when Ash (Schwartzman) tells his crush that she’s a “disloyal” lab partner for flirting with Ash’s cousin Kristofferson in chemistry class; and it’s nearly impossible not to be struck (with awe? inspiration? the beauty of the wild world?) by the sublime moment near the end of the film when Mr. Fox and a wolf sharing a long distance fist salute.

Other perks? A Jarvis Cocker song; Mr. Fox’s versatility with Latin names; the rampant but child-friendly cussing; and Willem Dafoe’s character, a menacing rat, whose body and speech habits invoke Jesus from The Big Lebowski.

Those of you who are Wes Anderson devotees will note the striking similarities between Mr. Fox and Royal Tenenbaum (not to mention Danny Ocean), and likewise with Ash and Chas Tenenbaum. Of course, every Wes Anderson film bears some relation to one another, which in our book is only a good thing.

Mr. Fox and the neighbourhood animals put on their bandit hats in "Fantastic Mr. Fox".

(Wes Anderson, 2009)

November 27, 2009

by Joel Crary

In some ways, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is the ideal project for Wes Anderson. The precise staging of his live action films is miniaturized to shoebox size for the director to get just right. While watching the finished product I imagined Anderson crouching to look at the sets at eye level, taking measurements with a ruler and luxuriating in the freedom of a world without actors to wait on his attention to detail. The same sort of pageantry that Anderson has made his trademark, told in shots that routinely appear to have generated from still images in the director’s mind, spills over into stop motion animation and for a while I was amazed to see how well it worked.

Anderson’s scripts are often funny and inventive, especially when he executes visual humour that plays against his characters, all of whom, animated or otherwise, are written as visionaries in their own specific way. His characters rarely break down, and when they do, voices are rarely raised and limbs are rarely thrown. There is typically a verbal recognition of the circumstances before everyone moves on to accomplish a task. “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is no different. Its titular character, voiced by George Clooney, is a man with a master plan. In a manner of speaking.

As in Anderson’s other films, everything is in the details. Acting on base instinct, Mr. and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) approach a farm to make off with some chickens. Mr. Fox lays out how everything is going to go down, from the fence latch to the trap position to the hiding places. He takes pride at being the best at what he does, but life is short. There’s a cub on the way and the real estate market looks promising. Fox trades in his thieving ways for a stable editorial gig at the local paper and moves his family out of the foxhole into a cozy tree. One caveat, according to Fox’s lawyer (Bill Murray): His neighbours are none other than Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three farmers so nasty that they are the subjects of unflattering children’s limericks.

Meanwhile, Fox’s son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) isn’t living up to the legend of his father. He can barely play whackbat, a satire of cricket with rules that the high school coach (Owen Wilson) goes over in a blur of complicated instruction (it ends up being pretty important). Ash’s athletic, sleek and zen cousin Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson) moves in and a rivalry starts for Fox’s attention. Ash sees a golden opportunity to impress his dad by exacting a master plan of his own, but Kristofferson can nail a high dive with hardly any splash-back. It’s no contest.

Never one to turn down a challenge, Fox wants back into the thievery game and sees the farmers as a golden opportunity. He enlists the help of Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), an opossum who inconveniently tends to go cross-eyed. With Kristofferson’s help, they stage raids on the farms, armed with drug-laced blueberries to knock out the guard dogs. Unfortunately, Bean (Michael Gambon) has a world of artillery at his disposal, not to mention a security rat (Willem Dafoe) who seems to have taken tough guy lessons from “West Side Story”. Soon, the animals are banding together to survive and looking for revenge under their much cooler Latin designations: Call Fox Vulpes Vulpes.

There are funny moments when the animals revert to their wild tendencies in spite of the fact that they’re clad in formal wear, and that indeed seems to be the dichotomy on which the whole narrative is based. If Fox would only resist his animalistic side, he could live a quite satisfying life, but he would be denying his instinct and thereby himself. There are moments of effective introspection, but some feel as though they’re there purely for the sake of a toast. The animation is unlike anything I’ve seen, especially when Anderson pulls out to show his characters running from afar or digging through layers of complex set designs.

I’m not convinced that Anderson’s talent with dialogue is entirely suited to a children’s tale, but he has certainly made the tale his own. Other than “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, which began and ended for me with the colourful Gene Wilder movie, I had a childhood that was all but bereft of Roald Dahl. Since I didn’t read “Fantastic Mr. Fox” growing up, Wes Anderson’s adaptation, which is exceptionally creative in its animation, doesn’t work for me on the level of a nostalgia kick. It looks pretty cuss spiffy, though.

This year has been pretty astounding for animated children’s films. Up and Ponyo will appear on many a top ten list, and even Coraline and 9 were visually interesting. And so far the adult films of the year haven’t been so bad, either. Movies like The Hurt Locker and Precious are compelling examples. But then there are the somewhere-in-between films. And these are the movies that have most impressed me in 2009. Where the Wild Things Are, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Mary and Max must give marketers the biggest headaches. All three look like children’s films, two are based on children’s source material, and all three have dark, adult themes and humor that would not only be over a kid’s head, but entirely inappropriate.

Where the Wild Things Are

This is the film that seems to have been most misinterpreted. I’ve heard many stories about people who took their kids to go see this, and then had to leave half way through when their kids were bored/crying. Where the Wild Things Are is not meant for children. And that confused the majority of the movie-going public. In a market where the merit of an adaptation is based on how well it represents the book, this one has a tendency to disappoint. Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze take the story places Sendak never meant for it to go, but in my book, that’s never a bad thing.

I was just impressed. The voice acting was affecting (Gandolfini should be nominated for an Oscar, honestly), the costumes were a wonderful throwback, and the cinematography is both bleak and beautiful. A movie meant for adults that remember how hard it is to be a kid, Where the Wild Things Are doesn’t have as much of a built in audience as studios may have originally expected.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

In this film Wes Anderson gives us a bizarre mix of slapstick childlike humor and dry, typical Anderson one-liners. Lines like “I love you, but I never should have married you,” might not quite work when the next scene consists of animated rodents dodging bullets. But the mixture is, at least, interesting. Especially when we’ve been seeing a lot of the same stuff from this director (stuff I love, by the way, but the motifs are starting to look a little too familiar from film to film). The adult jokes tend to hit their mark while the Roald Dahl inspired plot is pretty delightful.

Again, Mr. Fox is a throwback to old animation styles. Mouse and the Motorcycle style puppetry mixes claymation with other stop motion. Even when the plot might get boring to an adult audience, the animation is always fascinating to watch. Adult themes like the suppression of creativity in a domestic environment will definitely go over a child’s head completely, and the goofy plot isn’t enough to sustain the film. Luckily for Anderson (and studios), he has enough of a reputation to avoid the marketing nightmare that the next film would come up against.

Mary and Max

So far, this is my favorite film of the year. It opened at Sundance to very pumped crowds, but has yet to get a U.S. release date. Which is sad, but makes perfect sense. This is a film that looks like a children’s movie. It looks as silly as Wallace and Gromit, for example, but contains much more adult themes. Suicide, death, depression, alcoholism, and obesity haunt the movie. But they also make poop jokes. Like the other two in-betweeny films, Mary and Max is not an “adult film.” There is no swearing, nudity, violence, etc., and all three films are rather heartwarming (especially this one). The themes have everything to do with childhood, but less to do with a child audience.

I think what I like most about all three of these movies is their awkwardness. Since they don’t quite fit into an age group they bounce all over the place. They don’t seem to care about pleasing a certain group definitively. So when it comes to awards, numbers, and even release dates, they struggle. Childhood is messy. Sometimes we’re forced into adult situations too early, sometimes we hang onto our youth too hard. All three of these films successfully, I think, explore this.

Ok...maybe there's a little nudity...

Data
Title: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Year: 2009
Length: 87 minutes
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, based on the book by Roald Dahl
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wallace Wolodarsky, Eric Chase Anderson, Michael Gambon
Music: Alexandre Desplat (and non-original music)

My reaction
Synopsis: a fox endangers his family by stealing from mean farmers
How I saw it: in the theater, today
Concept: Great. Not one of Dahl’s best books, but the idea of doing a movie of it in this style is perfect.
Story: Good.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Good. Unmistakably a Wes Anderson movie. There are a few isolated moments that are kind of bad (it has the typical lesson-learning of a children’s movie, which seems out of place and unnatural here), but the rest of the movie makes up for them.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great. Absolutely amazing.
Acting: Great. The voice-work is entertaining, and the animation is expressive and emotional.
Music: Great. Lots of Burl Ives and Beach Boys, and Desplat’s score is fun.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). One of Anderson’s better movies, right up there with Tenenbaums. It’s at a much higher energy level than typical for him, but without losing that quiet, Anderson-y tone.
Objective Rating: 9/10 (Very good).

Well, this has most definitely proven to be the best Thanksgiving I’ve spent with my family in my “adult” life. I made everything but the turkey (boooo turkey) and nothing was overcooked or “not quite right,” in fact, it was all pretty spectacular. I even made my first pie and it was GOOD! I know, right? Look at me, look at ME. After stuffing our faces and napping through a Barbie movie, my sister, niece, mother and I  went to see “A Christmas Carol.” If you ever, for whatever reason, end up watching this movie please let me know so we can discuss how WEIRD the Christmas past ghost was. I couldn’t handle it. My sister gave me a raised eyebrow/grin several times throughout his part.

Now, the fam is gone and I have nothing to do. I halfheartedly attempted to round up some folks to go see Fantastic Mr. Fox with me post-family hang, but noooo, everyone is familying still! I haven’t been this excited to see a movie in a long time. Wes Anderson’s take on a Roald Dahl book? Yes please. Mr. Fox’s whistle click click thing is something I am going to try very hard to not reference and abuse to the point of annoyance. I am bad with those kinds of things.

Ugh, maybe I WILL go by myself. I just got so excited about it!

We’ll see what happens when 10:10 DOES roll around. I’ve got a thermos of hot apple cider/cap’n morgan to sneak in. Things may get W I L D.

His films have always seemed hyper-real, from art direction and design to the behaviors and banter of his characters. Having watched four of his films in theaters– some more than once– I consistently heard and watched the divisive quality of his heavily marketed, “quirky” films on the audience. Half the audience cracks up at the twisted looking-glass humor, while the others shift in their seats and grumble at the perceived failure of the jokes.

The challenge of appreciating Anderson’s work depends on how willing the audience is to acknowledge their own faults in the self-deprecating humor that drives his movies. What better way to disguise that premise than behind fuzzy animals with human qualities.

During a preview screening for Fantastic Mr. Fox, the room lit up with peels of guffaws from a variety of people, including the little ones. Everyone was getting the humor. This PG-rated film captivated the kids even with its primitive effects (the current CGI-reared generation of kids are far removed from the Gumby crowd). This accomplishment stems from Anderson’s adept use of pacing and his faithful use of his chosen medium. Even the explosions during the animals’ battles with the human farmers are of the stop-motion variety (painted cotton balls). No CGI cheats throughout!

The film also does not sugarcoat that animal behavior with innocent cuteness.  The sharp delivery of dialogue between the characters sometimes slips toward wild unpredictable primal behavior, which wittily treads the line of silliness and danger. It inevitably leads to some cruel scenes with real consequences, which builds up to an ominous encounter with a wolf. The scene is laden with danger thanks to the simple, often humorous and sometimes emotional way the violence unfolds earlier in the film. It recalls the scene in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou when Zissou finally catches up with the jaguar shark but without the melodrama.

I had my trepidations when I first heard Anderson was working on an animated film. Then the trailer never did the film proper justice, as the characters are so much more laden with hang-ups than the sound bites used in the preview might have you think.

Watching the movie unfold felt like you were watching Anderson’s masterpiece. Unlike, so many movies for kids*, this movie felt organic and authentic, and what do kids need most put true, heart-felt honesty, even if that truth might have its dark places. As Fantastic Mr. Fox continually reminds us, “We’re wild animals.”

*I must admit this year had several extraordinary kiddie movies, including Spike Jonez’ Where the Wild Things Are, Pixar’s Up and Hiyao Miyazaki’s Ponyo.

That’s one of my favorite lines from the new movie from Writer/Director Wes Anderson, FANTASTIC MR. FOX, based on the story by Roald Dahl. A, well, fantastic effort on just about every level. This is probably my new favorite movie of Anderson’s, the story deftly holds on to it’s origins of being from the mind of Roald Dahl, and most importantly, it’s just pretty cussing cute! With a voice cast featuring the likes of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, and lots more (including Mario Batali!!)

I’ve long felt that Anderson’s movies, while all fun in their own right, were essentially little boy exercises in playing. Whether it’s BOTTLE ROCKET, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, or even the closest in what I mean, represented in RUSHMORE. The stories are all about men being immature, idiosyncratic and rebels for their own causes; which is basically what little boys play at, when playing cowboys and indians, GI Joes, or any other backyard activity. We’re the cleverest, most-invulnerable creatures in the world – especially if we have an audience of in awe friends and younger siblings. And FANTASTIC MR. FOX, fits in with these ideals, but also presents a new maturity.

Mr. Fox starts off the movie as the best chicken hunter of the forest, and when he and his wife – Mrs. Fox – get caught in a steel trap, she reveals she’s pregnant and that Mr. Fox has to stop being risky and get a real job. We then cut to two years later (or 12 fox years), where Mr. Fox writes a column for the local newspaper – which no one reads – and he starts to feel an itch. First it is scratched in the form of needing a better home. Instead of the hole in the ground that he and his wife, and their adolescent son Ash (voiced by RUSHMORE’s Jason Schwartzman) to a large tree where you can see the entire valley. Then comes the further plotting of pulling one last big job, in three phases. This job is to break into each of the three local farmers barns, cellars and freezers, and steal their wares.

How this movie differs and is more mature, in my view, from Anderson’s previous movies is that we get an acknowledgment that these characters are in-fact not mature adults, because well, they’re wild animals. It’s a strange thing, but in that revelation, it brings these anthropomorphized animals into the realm of the adult. Grown ups enjoy playing cowboys and indians, GI Joe’s and whatever else. We just tend to do it either more lethally – through actual wars – or find a way of rebelling on our own, but can’t admit that yes, we are still kids inside. And in some part, wild animals of our own kind.

The movie is animated with stop-motion puppets. A little more in the vein of the Rankin-Bass Christmas cartoons from long-ago, than the smoother animation of the Henry Selick, CORALINE, crowd. We see the fur on the animals move in strange ways that is the effect of moving the puppets and taking separate, single-frame photos of them. And it does take a little getting used to, but the way the movie starts by throwing us straight in to the style of the movie – plotting out the Foxes breaking into a farm to nab some squabs (pigeon-like birds).

The style of the movie is the extreme to which Anderson has become known for, with the elaborate plans, funny costumes, and dancing (don’t you remember the Steve Zissou dance sequence?). I also kind of feel like the humor works here a little better than in Anderson’s other movies. Maybe it’s another side of the immaturity in his stories, but sometimes it’s hard to accept living people doing some of the things that they do in say THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. But, here seeing a fox explain to us that beagles love blueberries, or the fun ways that the animals smile at each other by baring their teeth, all adds some great humor.

The voice acting is all fantastic, from the people I listed above to the not headlining names, but still great coups to have in this little movie; like Michael Gambon, Brian Cox, Jarvis Cocker, and Willem Dafoe (probably one of the greatest characters/acting performances of the movie).

It’s a great movie, and I hope that it enjoys lots of success in the beginning of this 2009 holiday season.

OLD DOGS

(Disney) John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Ella Bleu Travolta, Conner Rayburn, Lori Loughlin, Matt Dillon, Bernie Mac. Directed by Walt Becker

From the director of Wild Hogs comes this new comedy that similarly involves older men in a younger man situation. In this case, two successful businessmen on the verge of closing the biggest deal of their careers are derailed by the revelation that one of them is in fact a father and at one of the most critical junctures in their negotiations, will be babysitting his newfound brood. As will happen around kids, chaos ensues.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for some mild rude humor)

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

(Apparition) Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flannery, Clifton Collins, Julie Benz. This is the sequel to the cult classic penned by Troy Duffy (the making of which was the subject of the acclaimed documentary Overnight). The brothers MacManus who have been taking it easy in Ireland since the events of the first film find themselves compelled to return to the mean streets of Boston when a priest is brutally gunned down.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for bloody violence, language and some nudity)

Fantastic Mr. Fox

(Fox Searchlight) Featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzmann, Bill Murray. From the minds of the late novelist Roald Dahl and director Wes Anderson (Rushmore) comes this animated feature that pits a clever, tricky fox against three brutal but not-so-bright farmers.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for action, smoking and slang humor)

Ninja Assassin

(Warner Brothers) Rain, Naomie Harris, Sho Kosugi, Rick Yune. Taken from the streets as a child by the legendary but lethal Ozunu Clan and trained as an assassin, Raizo becomes one of the deadliest killers on the planet. However he butts heads with the clan and is forced to vanish. Now, he finds an Interpol agent who has stumbled upon one of the secrets of the Ozunu Clan and is marked for death. He must protect her – and himself – from the world’s most skilled assassins and try to find a way to bring the clan down for good. This stylized anime/video game hybrid is from V for Vendetta director James McTeigue.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language)

The Road

(Weinstein) Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kody Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron. After a global catastrophe kills nearly all life on earth and ends civilization as we know it, a father and his son make their way across a barren, dangerous landscape trying to avoid predators of the natural and unnatural kind in an effort to make it to the coast and survival. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy, this post-Apocalyptic thriller boasts an all-star cast.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for some violence, disturbing images and language)

Fantastic may be the understatement of the year– Wes Anderson’s new film is flat-out stupendous, and in an already-historic year for Hollywood adaptations of childhood classics, ranging from Spike Jonze’s triumph of interpretation in Where the Wild Things Are to the zany inspiration of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Anderson’s Fox is the stone-cold champ, a knockout movie and a masterstroke of collaboration.

Yes, collaboration– for this is nothing if not a joint effort with author Roald Dahl, whose spirit is not so much reverently preserved here as it is given room to breathe life into this wonderfully witty and creative movie. It’s also a collaboration between Anderson and a whole cadre of animators; clealy enamored with the stop-motion effects he used in his Life Aquatic, he brings to this one a homespun, kids’ craft project vibe, rendering the story as a masterpiece in corduroy and fur.

But what makes it masterful is that it’s as quintessentially Wes Anderson as any movie he’s made: He makes his love of the story apparent by injecting it with his own wit– which has never been funnier or less cloying– and an aesthetic that’s charmingly rustic, both visually and even sonically, as Anderson recorded his actors all together on a farm, preserving not just the spontaneity but the naturalism of the session. He brings out his own typically Andersonian themes in the film– there are daddy issues, self-esteem issues, grappling with failure– but never feels as though he’s twisting Dahl’s work.

And it is also, by the way, a terrific Thanksgiving movie: At one point Mr. Fox himself expresses gratitude and, as he puts it, “awareness” not just for basic survival, but for the blessings of family and community. It’s a particularly warm moment in an entirely loveable and endlessly enjoyable movie– one that I’m particularly thankful.

Andrew Yorke from xteamartists attending the midnight opening of Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ this evening and reported this:

Wes Anderson has a style that is polarizing to the masses.  Some embrace the intimate complexities Wes places in his characters while others find it nihilistic.  I say this one is the film that brings those two groups together.  Clever, visually beautiful.  A true product that carries a pulse the whole way through.  Rolling Stone magazine was right when saying this film challenges the talent monopolized by Pixar.  Truly a great film.  Good job Wes.

‘Fantastic’ hit theatres nationwide today.

Tonight, I preview Fantastic Mr. Fox (written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach based on the Roald Dahl book) and the new ICON theater in the SLP. You may know Roald Dahl and I have a history. I worked on the film Matilda as a production assistant and even appeared as an extra. Good times.

My next most anticipated film is also by Noah Baumbach. Looks and sounds…well, kinda perfect for me. March 12 is too long to wait.

And maybe the coffee is talking, but I’m super fired-up for this week.
Thanksgiving with the joint families, a wedding in MKE and a mini-high school reunion reunion. Perhaps a few days off from the kids is getting me typing quickly here, too. Milwaukee, a great place on a great lake: Here we come.

Cada vez que sale un trailer de una cinta con Ben Stiller no me tomo la molestia de verlo. No es que el tipo me caiga mal, de hecho me parece que ha hecho cosas geniales como Reality bites o Zoolander, pero en serio basta de actuar siempre como el goofy de There’s something about Mary. Sin embargo este trailer me llamó la atención

Y es que cada vez que Noah Baumbach hace una nueva cinta, merece como mínimo una celebración con fanfarrias.

No saben quien es este tipo? Pues es el guionista de dos pelis de Wes Anderson: Life Aquatic with Steve Sizzou y Fantastic Mr Fox. Aparte ha dirigido cosas como Kicking and screaming (no la de Will Ferrel), Margot at the wedding y una de las mejores cintas de la década: The Squid and the Whale.

Con ese currículum ya entienden porqué deben prestarle atención a esta peli. Y es que hay que tener talento para lograr filmar a Ben Stiller sin su cara de idiota de costumbre.

Wes Anderson (… che, si sa, può anche non piacere) e lo stop motion ( … e prima di lui Wladyslaw Starewicz, Ray Harryhausen, Willis O’Brien e Nick Park con la sua Aardman Animations).

The Best Movie of 2009?

I think Up deserves an Oscar. Not only is it the best animated picture of the year, it is one that convinced me that digital animation is a formidable medium that I would be well-served to accept. What I really liked about Up is that although a children’s film, its message of life after death is actually quite grown up, and not in the grown up, slyly winking style of a Wes Anderson Fantastic Mr. Fox but grown up in the fact that the movie’s themes are presented elegantly and simply, at once entertaining and on-message. Are children’s movies the next adults between 18 and 49 genre? I do not know, but Up makes a good argument for.

This idea is funny, because Up really does not have any characters from that demographic. Think about it, Carl is a senior citizen and Russell is a pre-adolescent boy, a tween in Disney-speak (thankfully without the obnoxious Hannah Montana baggage). The only adults are the cell-phone carrying architects who are trying to evict Carl from his home. You could argue that it is the mere absence of adults that marks this film—Russell’s dad is negligent, the medical techs who come to take Carl to Shady Oaks simpering, and Carl’s wife Ellie dead. Is director Peter Docter doing away with adults for a reason? Are they artifacts of a meshugge generation, one whose main aim beyond technology is money? Do they know as much about life as old people and children?

By all appearances from the plot, this is an adventure. Newlyweds Carl and wife Ellie picks a point on the globe, South America (“Just like America, but south” according to Russell) remote enough to not be bothered, to travel to one day when they have the money. Unfortunately, Ellie dies (again, very un-Disney) and Carl is left alone. A balloon vendor, Carl ties up thousands of balloons to his home and takes off one morning after assaulting a contractor come to take over his house and build an office on top of it. Unlikely but equally unfortunate, a young boy, Russell hitches along for the ride. At Paradise Falls, they find a crazed explorer Charles Muntz, bent on discovering a rare bird. Chaos ensues as Carl and company find the aptly named she-bird “Kevin” first.

Here’s the ironic part to the adventure—it’s essentially pointless. Oh, sure, they save Kevin and meet a loveable golden named Dug, but there is no intrinsic value to the adventure. In fact, the only thing Carl learns is that his wife’s adventure book is already quite full. Under “Things I’m Going to Do” are photos from the couple’s marriage. It was his promise to Adventure with her, yet he finds that that promise was not broken.

OK, before you throw Dorothy’s “there’s no place like home” at me—I don’t find this message hackneyed. Think about it, the balloon-home is unable to be rescued; in the final scene it rests on the cliff of Paradise Falls. The house, the dream, the wife is gone. All that remains is a scrapbook with a couple of memories from a mundane and childless marriage. We can rightly assume Carl is assigned to Shady Oaks after returning to the city—he could even be on probation for assaulting the contractor. Russell’s dad does not show up for his “Wilderness Explorers” ceremony. Review that awards ceremony scene at the end—have you seen a more depressing pay-off in a movie? In a kids’ movie for gosh sake? I have never seen a bigger tent-pole movie with such a humble message—enjoy the things you have because they will turn into memories.

Yet according to Up those memories need to sustain us. Look at Muntz. In his quest to find the bird, whatever it is, he loses out on a lifetime of memories, instead retreating into himself and his madness. This is what happens when you try to hold onto things—you end up losing everything else.

So, in the end, Up is a winsome piece of fluff. The story is exciting, the characters warm and fun, but like Prospero’s midnight mushrooms, they are of no weight, no purpose, their only object being to send a wispy message: Enjoy life when you can.

A pretty subversive message coming from a Silicon Valley media conglomerate that makes pablum for kids, huh? All I can say is I am glad I was there for the ride.

highly recommend. i don’t know what i expected. but i thoroughly enjoyed it. =)
go see it.