FANTASTIC MR. FOX (2009, Blu-ray released March 23, 2010 – MSRP $39.99)
I really misjudged Fantastic Mr. Fox. The previews and advertisements gave me the impression that it would turn out to be a poorly designed and hollow animated adaptation of a reasonably famous children’s book. I was drastically wrong on both counts. This film and its Blu-ray presentation are beyond good. They’re…ahem…Fantastic!
I had heard tell that writer/director Wes Anderson actually didn’t have much of a hand in the production of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and that the stop-motion animators responsible for bringing the characters to life on a day-to-day basis were forced to take the reigns in his place. After watching the film, I can’t believe that for a moment. Fantastic Mr. Fox feels like an Anderson film through and through. The visual style, the dialogue, the pacing – it’s all trademark Anderson. And it truly is Fantastic.
Adapted from a Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) story, Fantastic Mr. Fox is given a very new and modern life, voiced by uber-celeb George Clooney. It’s a similar device to that used in adapting Sendak‘s Where the Wild Things Are to celluloid – animated characters from a children’s book speaking naturalistic dialogue, grounding the film while mining greater depth and complexity from a seemingly simple concept. And it really works here. The visual style speaks directly to the children’s book illustrations that bore it. But the wonderful performances of the very smart script, along with the trademark vintage-Anderson music-mix elevate this film from mere animated fare aimed at children to the sort of well made art-film that even the pop-culture intelligentsia can appreciate.
And Blu-ray fans also have a lot to appreciate with the Fantastic Mr. Fox disc. It’s gorgeous! And it should be with a direct digital-to-digital transfer from Nikon D3 digital still camera footage that exhibits beautiful, rich colours, deep blacks and a ton of detail. While not as overwhelmingly sublime as the visuals, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is dynamic and clear. It’s not as immersive as it could have been but nevermind. This front-heavy mix makes Anderson’s musical selections sound great here.
Their isn’t a lot of variety in the Fantastic Mr. Fox special feature set, but the extras on the disc are nothing to shake a tail at! The main feature is a six-part documentary that runs almost 45-minutes and covers every aspect of production from the script to the design to the cast. While it doesn’t quite take the place of a commentary track it is an excellent and fairly candid look behind-the-scenes of the film. There are also a couple of featurettes providing a very brief look at “The World of Roald Dahl” and a 2-minute animated sports lesson in “A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat“. The disc is rounded out with the theatrical trailer and DVD and Digital Copies of the feature film.
Read more: Fantastic Mr. Fox coming to Blu-ray in March
Mr Fox is awesome! I love watching my Kids faces light up when we watch him.
[...] all of his films to prove my theory true. I truly enjoy his work with Wes Anderson (as co-writer of Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and think he might be fashioning himself into a decent [...]