Thursday, April 1, 2010

FANTASTIC MR. FOX

FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Movie (2009), 87 min
Director: Wes Anderson
Screenplay: Roald Dahl (novel), Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach

The top reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/) gave this one a 100% rating. "Wry, witty, quirky, wonderful!" said the critics.  I can only suppose I'm missing something; actually, I'm missing a lot.

The stop-motion animation is lifeless, the dialogue is pretentious and stupid, the story--well, I can't say. I left this movie 15 minutes in. The "hero" (Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney) and his wife (Mrs. Fox, voiced by Meryl Streep) move from their poor foxhole to a tree on a hill. Soon they have a visit from their son's cousin, Kristofferson (voiced by Eric Anderson). He does a perfect dive into an inflatable pool, and Mr. Fox's son gets jealous. Lifelessly. Then, rejected, I guess, Kristofferson sobs quietly on his pallet in the night. The son gets up and turns on an electric train to soothe him. A real train runs by the hillside at night. Gripping.

OK, that's where I quit. If you can watch this for free, say, at someone else's place, you'll get your money's worth.

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