Fantastic Mr. Fox – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

A golden ticket and oompa loompas might be Roald Dahl’s most popular creations as an author, only aided by the film adaptations, there has been a few other film adaptations from Mr. Dalh’s children novels like Danny, the Champion of the World, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach. Well, I’ll be a cuss if I didn’t know that. What was I taught in elementary school? It seems to be that an author is so closely tied to one of his books, we all get tunnel vision and forget or are blinded when it comes to his other works. I think this idea works with authors of yesteryear. Maybe it’s a generational thing? Either way, I can thank Wes Anderson for bring this work to me. And that’s nothing to cuss with.

Maybe to the uninitiated it seems weird that a director like Wes Anderson would take on an animated film as his next project, but Anderson fans knew he flirted with stop-motion animation before with The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I’ve been getting this feeling that most animated films recently could work in any form of animation. Either traditional cell animation or CG, they would still be what they were. But with the Fantastic Mr. Fox, I really do think that the stop-motion animation was probably the only animation form to make the film in. There is this wonderful sense of realism in the characters. I don’t know what they used for the hair on the characters, but it gives this sense of them being alive, even when their movements aren’t realistic. Same for the human characters; they feel real, as if you can mentally feel the way they are, as if you just touched them. The camera work is really something fantastic. The camera slides left to right, often shifting the three-dimensionality we associate the stop-motion puppets and places them in a 2-D environment. We’ve seen some wonderful CG animated films recently, yet nothing compares to this fine form.

For all the fuss about if Anderson actually directed the film or not, it’s pretty conclusive that the Fantastic Mr. Fox is an Anderson film. There’s no doubt about it. The term “quirk” has been tattooed on Wes Anderson ever since Bottle Rocket, and I’ve mentioned before how I’m starting to hate that term, but what else can one call the situations, characters, and humor of an Anderson film? All of his trademarks are here; the music, the colors, the comedy, making the Fantastic Mr. Fox one of his most accessible films for the non-Anderson fans, yet it will deliver for those who have liked his films. For all of the so-called Anderson quirk, the adaptation is clearly the work of all his mannerisms, while it still delivers a pretty solid translation of all of the Dahl themes from the book. It’s a fine marriage, and while some won’t ever “get” Anderson, here and with this film, there’s just something kind of fantastic going on, regardless.

[whistles and makes a clicking noise]

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Can I be cliched right now? This transfer from Fox is fantastic! I’ve been eagerly waiting to see the film on high-def after seeing it theatrically, so I could maul over the fine details, and this transfer does just that. The autumn hues are gorgeous looking, the fur in the puppets are real enough to touch, and this pristine transfer has no flaws. The DTS track is pretty good as well, but not as robust as one would expect. Little rear speaker activity, but the front heavy sound design is really good.

Making the Fantastic Mr. Fox: This six-part 45 minute documentary is pretty thorough and worth sitting through. Maybe not as personal as a commentary, but this HD making-of covers all areas of the production, making it a mandatory viewing for stop-motion animation fans.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World of Roald Dahl: Short, perhaps too short, this 3 minute HD piece has Anderson talking about Dahl and how he drew inspiration from him for the film.

A Beginners Guide to Whack-Bat: If Owen Wilson’s film narration of the sport confused you, this tries to clear it up so you can jumpm right in and play.

A HD version of the Trailer finishes out the extras. On the second disc is the DVD version of the film, and the third disc houses the Digital Copy.

Conclusion: A fantastic film on a fantastic Blu-ray from Fox. [whistles and makes a clicking noise]

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: