'Fantastic Mr. Fox' - Weekly Film Analysis By: Unknown No comments

PRODUCED IN: 2008

RELEASED IN: 2009

TYPE: Animated Feature Film

GENRE: Children's Comedy, Adventure

CERTIFICATE: PG

RUNNING TIME: 87 Minutes

LANGUAGE: English

WRITTEN BY: Roald Dahl

DIRECTED BY: Wes Anderson

PRODUCED BY: Allison Abbate, Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Scott Rudin

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox, Indian Paintbrush, Regency Enterprises, 'An Empirical Picture'

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Tristan Oliver

EDITING: Ralph Foster, Stephen Perkins

MUSIC BY: Alexandre Desplat

KEY CAST MEMBERS: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson

AWARDS: 

29 wins including: Annecy International Animated Film Festival: 'Audience Award' and 'Cristal Award' for 'Best feature'

55 nominations including: An 'Oscar' and 'Golden Globe' for 'Best Animated Feature Film'

BUDGET: £40,000,000

BOX OFFICE: £46,471,023 (April 8th 2010)

THEMES: Family, Crime, Justice, Greed, Friendship,

PLOT:

'Fantastic Mr. Fox' follows the story of an urbane fox and his wild-ways of hen heckling, turkey taking and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures. Unable to put his wild ways behind him and be the responsible husband and father his wife asks of him, he attempts 'just one last raid' on the three meanest farmers to ever live.

It is a tale of learning where to draw the line on family responsibilities, one's need for adventure and the friendships and personal awakenings brought on as a result of Mr. Fox's attempt to save his community from the farmers' furious retaliations, caused by his mistakes.

NARRATIVE:

The narrative of 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' is told mainly through a non - linear structure with text overlays used to show chapters/parts. Although it has a non linear structure, text overlays are used to show jumps in time, for example, 12 years later, 1 hour later etc. 

Narration in parts as a form of telling the audience what is happening, what has just happened or what is going to happen next. Also an easy way of expressing Mr. Fox's thoughts and feelings to the audience in a way that is easy to understand for children.

Use of repetition of threes within the narrative, in terms of both dialogue and plot. For example 3 farmers, 'Bog, Bunce and Bean, one fat, one short, one lean', sniffing the air 3 times, carrying out 3 thefts etc etc. This is common when targeting something at a young audience, for example books, films etc, as they respond well to repetition, in particular repetition of threes. This therefore makes the film easy to watch and understand, engages the target audience well and is overall very effective.

However, although the film is targeted towards a younger audience, the depth of the narrative also appeals to a slightly older audience. For example, Mr. Fox's change in occupation in order to accommodate and stabilise his family life, the talk of extensionalism and the moment in which Mr. Fox questions life; ‘Why me? Why me?'. This is therefore successful as it means the film would get double the amount of publicity as it would appeal to both adults and children.

KEY SCENES:

1. Where his tale gets shot off by the farmers and he realises he's gone to far. This is pivotal as it is the beginning of the story and the motivation for the events that are to come.

2. When the digging begins and the continued race between the humans and animals as to who will come out on top.

3. When the foxes begin to starve. This is one of the protagonists lowest points within the film and therefore his motivation for the following scene.
4. When Mr. Fox has a plan. For this scene is where the plot gets going once again and the action and adventure kicks back in.
5. Mr. Fox and the other animal's victory feast. As this shows the animals triumph over evil. 
6. When we see the three farmers still waiting weeks afterwards, which reinforces the animals victory.

COMPARABLES: Type of animation used is very different to that of most animated films as it has a sort of puppeted look to it, in comparison to the smooth motion picture, disney characters one is used to nowadays. I believe this is effective as it gives the film a type of 'story book' feel, which is relevant since the film was based on Roal Dahl's book of the same name, and the puppeted look would appear to both a young and older audience as it looks innovative and interesting but also familiar.

OTHER:

A final scene which I believe was successful at targeting an adult audience:

Mr. Fox: "The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?"
Badger: (Pointing)"No, you cussing with me?" 
Mr. Fox: "Don't cussing point at me!"

Such an exchange is indicative of the fun Anderson has with both children and adults alike, by not bombarding the children with profanity but winking at the adults as if to say "You know what I mean."