What Should I Watch Tonight?
Anderson, 2009
There are two kinds of people in the world; people who love Wes Anderson, and people who think he’s okay but don’t really get what all the fuss is about. Oh, and there are probably people who hate him. And then the man himself and his friends and family probably have a more complicated view of him. And I guess there are a lot of people who have never even heard of him, especially outside of America. Okay, there are a lot of different kinds of people in the world, and whether or not they like Wes Anderson movies is probably not the most important aspect of their characters.
This is what I got when I searched "different kinds of people." Ironically, they all seem to be the same race, and almost all men. I'd also be willing to bet that they all love Wes Anderson
Still, Wes Anderson can be a bit much for some people. His movies are quirky, over-the-top stylistic, all feature a similar cast, include a very manipulative soundtrack (think Star Wars but with folk rock standards instead of a symphony), each one has at least one slow motion shot, and somehow just have some Wes Anderson quality that I don’t want to try to define. Basically he’s an auteur, and if you don’t like it honey badger don’t care.
I don't think he's actually a honey badger, but I really wanted to relate this back to the movie somehow. Sue me.
Personally, I adore these movies. They all deal with themes that are close to my heart (and the hearts of most people, or at least most people near my age). Now, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is by no means my favorite (I’m saving my favorite for a day that I’m in a really bad mood and JUST FEEL LIKE SITTING IN MY ROOM AND WRITING ABOUT FILMS!), but I do still love it, and it’s on my mind right now because of something someone said in a film class about a year ago.
Jason Schwartzman shows that he possesses tremendous on-screen AND voice acting talent, proving once and for all that he's more talented than his childhood rival, Mark Hamill
The guy who said this was annoying. Like, really annoying. He was a senior film studies major, and I have no idea why he was in a lower-level history of film class, because it clearly annoyed him that not everyone possessed his level of expertise, but that’s beside the point, and it was a good point. The question with the movie is that it was “directed by Wes Anderson,” but what does that really mean when it’s an animated movie? In this case, it doesn’t necessarily mean being in the same country. The Fantastic Mr. Fox was shot in America, but Wes Anderson was living in Paris at the time, presumably to run away from his feelings, re: Natalie Portman.
Damn you, Natalie Portman
A lot of people took issue with this, but I’d say that if you’re watching the movie, there is absolutely no doubt that it is Anderson, through and through. Everything in it carries his musky scent, from the cast, which includes such Anderson standards as Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, and Wallace Walodarsky (not to mention Anderson’s brother, Eric, who also drew the pictures in The Royal Tennenbaums (2001), and even Wes himself), to the cluttered screen-space and quirky portrayal of domestic life.
If there are two things he knows, it's how to put a unique spin on domestic life, and how to wear the hell out of a light-toned suit
Personally, I’m of the belief that this is just as much Anderson as any of his other films, and that, if anything, the medium of animation allowed him to maintain artistic control because it is less expensive to make puppets redo a scene at his whim than it is to make Meryl Streep and George Clooney redo it. Also, it’s not like he was communicating by telegram, he could send a video message of exactly what he wanted, and see what they were doing almost instantly. I’m going to say right now that it’s not 100% necessary to be breathing the same air as your actors and crew in order to claim directoral power.
Professional chemistry
So watch it, and keep in mind the controversies surrounding it. Also, be sure to note the animation style (it’s shot with an extremely high-def camera, but at 12 frames per second, as opposed to 24, so that you can really notice the stop-motion technique), and look out for Adrien Brody’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo.
Here's a hint
Cinephobia 
No trackbacks yet.