Fantastic Mr. Fox (film

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop motion animated film based on Roald Dahl's book of the same name, which will be released on November 13, 2009 by 20th Century Fox. It stars the voices of Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray. It is the first animated film directed by Wes Anderson. Development began in 2004 as collaboration between Anderson and Henry Selick (who worked with Anderson on the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) under Revolution Studios. Revolution folded, Selick left to direct Coraline, and the project moved to Fox Animation Studios. Production began in London in 2007. Anderson chose to record voices outside of a studio. This is 20th Century Fox's first stop-motion animated film.

Plot

The story is about a fox named Mr Fox (George Clooney). At night, he steals chickens, ducks, and turkeys from three mean, stinky and wealthy farmers — Boggis, Bunce and Bean — to feed his family. The farmers are fed up with this and try everything to kill him. One night they wait outside his foxhole in an attempt to ambush him. When Mr Fox emerges from his home, they fire at him but only succeed in blowing off his tail.

Determined to catch him, the farmers use spades and shovels to dig their way into the foxes' home, but Mr and Mrs Fox (Meryl Streep) and their four children dig a tunnel deeper into the ground and manage to escape. The farmers even resort to using bulldozers in order to dig deeper into the ground, but to no avail.

The three men therefore decide to play a waiting game, keeping watch on the entrance to the tunnel with shotguns at the ready, while their men patrol the area to make sure the foxes don't escape.

After three days of starving, Mr Fox comes up with a plan. He and his children dig further on and end up in Boggis' number one chicken house. There they steal some chickens and depart without leaving any sign of their presence there. They also raid Bunce's storehouse of ducks, geese and vegetables and Bean's underground cellar of apple cider.

Along the way they meet Badger (Bill Murray) and other digging animals who are also starving due to the farmers' siege of the hillside. Mr Fox, feeling responsible for the whole affair, invites the other animals to a feast made from the loot and they all decide to make an underground town where they will be safe, while discreetly obtaining food from the farmers.

Meanwhile Boggis, Bunce and Bean keep guard on the tunnel entrance in pouring rain, unaware that Mr Fox and his friends are stealing their food right under their noses. The book ends with the indication the three will be waiting forever.

In the book, local children sing the following verse (a limerick) to taunt the three farmers:

Boggis and Bunce and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean
Those horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean.

 

Cast

  • George Clooney as Mr. Fox[2]
  • Meryl Streep[3] as Mrs. Fox[4]: Cate Blanchett was prearranged to voice Mrs. Fox but she left the role for undisclosed reasons.[5]
  • Bill Murray as Mr. Badger[6]
  • Jason Schwartzman[2] as Ash
  • Jarvis Cocker as Petey
  • Owen Wilson as Coach Skip
  • Willem Dafoe as Rat
  • Brian Cox as Boggis
  • Adrien Brody as Rickity

  • [edit] Production

    Joe Roth and Revolution Studios bought the film rights to Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2004. Wes Anderson signed on as director with Henry Selick, who worked with Anderson on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as animation director. Anderson signed on because Roald Dahl is one of his heroes.[7] In adapting the novel, the story the novel covers would amount to the second act of the film. Anderson added new scenes to serve for the film's beginning and end.[8] Selick left the project to work on the Neil Gaiman story Coraline in early 2006.[9] Mark Gustafson is his replacement.[10] Fox Animation Studios became the project's home in October 2006 after Revolution folded.[11]

    In September 2007, Anderson announced voice work would begin.[2] The director chose to record the voices outside of a studio: "We went out in a forest, [..] went in an attic, [and] went in a stable. We went underground for some things. There was a great spontaneity in the recordings because of that."[10] He said of the production design, "We want to use real trees and real sand, but it’s all miniature."[2] Great Missenden, where Roald Dahl lived, has a major influence on the film's look.[7] The film mixes several forms of animation but consists primarily of stop motion.[11] Animation took place in London,[10] with Anderson directing the crew who animated Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.[12] Selick, who kept in contact with Anderson, said the director would act out scenes while in Paris and send them to the animators via iPhone.[13]

    Jarvis Cocker has written three or four songs for the film.[14] The American Cathedral in Paris's choir were also hired to sing a four-line poem in the film.[15]

    The World premiere will open the 53rd edition of the London Film Festival [16]

    The trailer for the movie was released on July 30, 2009 and played before Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, originally released on July 1, 2009.[

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