To say that Pixar has a monopoly on high quality animated films is to ignore the work that other studios like DreamWorks and Warner Bros. are doing. Though the Disney owned production house continues to out-gross it’s competition year after year, 2009 had a bunch of notable animated releases from rival companies like Sony (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs) and Fox (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel), who happened to put out the very best animated movie of the year – Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The film follows the ambitious and at times rambunctious Mr. Fox as he strives to make a better life for his family. He is forced to give up his lucrative farm-raiding ways by his steadfast wife, who has little care for the finer things that her materialistic husband desires. Fox takes a desk job as a newspaper columnist, but longs for the thrills of his former profession. Before long, the troublesome Fox teams up with his tree/buildings superintendent (the lovably simple opossum Kylie) and goes after a trio of farmers’ stockpiles, which includes chickens, geese, fruit and the finest cider in the land. After a series of heists go off without a hitch, the farmers decide to take extensive measures to rid the countryside of the fiendish Fox and his entire community.
Mr. Anderson, a long-time proponent of humor so dry it can barely be called comedy, loosens up a bit with four legged stop-motion characters that are cute enough to hold the attention of the young, yet quirky enough to amuse adults. Wholly, the film is an exhibition of the storytelling capacity of the stop-mo process, which was re-popularized by Tim Burton and Henry Selick in the 1990s and saw a renaissance of sorts this past year. Though the time consuming technique has its drawbacks (emotions & facial expressions are visually conveyed much clearer with CG), when executed skillfully, it can be inventively entertaining and a welcome departure from the polished look of digital perfection. What really takes the film above and beyond some of the best contemporary animated features is its witty dialogue, courtesy of Anderson and Noah Baumbach, which gives the characters – George Clooney’s Fox in particular – a charm that is relatable and hard not to like, even when his embezzling antics put his family & friends in danger. Complementing the fine script is the accomplished actors (including Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Willem Dafoe) who embody their respective animal’s organically via pitch-perfect vocal performances that should give John Ratzenberger a run for his money.
For home entertainment viewing, the Blu-ray transfer is wonderfully colorful and detailed. Computer generated imagery has enabled animators to meticulously craft specific physical attributes for their characters, bringing the tiniest strand of hair into sharp focus. Team Fox has miraculously applied the same level of quality to their models and miniatures and in high definition, the Opossum and Rat look as real as the real rodents running along the NYC subway tracks. The films vibrant soundtrack also pops in 5.1 surround sound, making Alexandre Desplat’s score that much more enjoyable. In the area of Special Features, there’s enough on the disc to keep you engaged for at least an hour with the six-part making of documentary, but there’s little else that can match the enjoyment of simply screening the fantastic feature by itself.