Over the weekend, I had a chance to partake in the viewing of the Fantastic Mr.Fox. Usually these days, animated movies leave me with a lackluster taste in my mouth, using a plethora of CG and overdone imagery that suffers from a lack of imagination. Much like Fight Club, I knew Mr. Fox had a special esoteric movie that was insightful, clever and had that extra burst of something special. Directed by Wes Anderson, whose stylistic method has embraced such films as The Royal Tenebaums, Mr. Fox achieved a balance of masterful storytelling, detailed animation, and memorable characters that are lovable for the ages.

Many feel the reason for Anderson’s success and criticism lay in his gift for stylistic storytelling. Critics feel that his trademarked visual style and obsessive attention to detail and colorful art direction tends to outweigh the story. They feel,he’s too willing to give his fans exactly what they expect. Much like Tim Burton, the very things that turned Anderson in the type of auteur that film students aspire to become have also become a crutch. I tend to disagree.

One of the reasons, The Fantastic Mr. Fox may be so well conceived is because it is based on the book by Roald Dahl, whose imagination knows no limit, and whose work has been time tested. Author of James and the Giant Peach and Witches, Dahl’s penchant for storytelling truly epitomizes the gift of Gab.

CAC

Essentially, Mr. Fox was Cussin Good.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 8:24 am and is filed under All, Art, Culture, Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.