The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Witwiwo:

What: The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

When: Friday, the 8th of January.

How Long: 1 hour, 27 minutes. Pretty short, but it it didn't seem really quick.

Where: Cinemark 7! Rock Hill's sketchy cinema! But it is only $2.00! Exclamation point-->!

Why: Because stop animation is so baller. And George Clooney is so fly.

Expectations: So-so. It looked well done by the preview, but some of the clips I'd seen beforehand tipped me off that it was not going to be laugh-fest.

What I ate while I watched: A little bit of my friend's popcorn. But I had just had a burger.

Director: Wes Anderson.

Author: Originally, Roald Dahl.

Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman.

Two Sentence Synopsis: Mr. Fox retired from bird thievery to settle down with his family. When he decides to take up his old habits, the local farmer attempt to thwart him.
My Favorite Part or Quote was: How they used the word "cuss" to replace actual cuss words in the dialogue. Even down to the word "clustercuss." It made for some funny dialogue:

Badger: In summation, I think you just got to not do it, man. That's all.
Mr. Fox: I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.
Badger: The cuss you are.
Mr. Fox: The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?
Badger: No, you cussing with me?
Mr. Fox: Don't cussing point at me!
Badger: If you're gonna cuss, you're not gonna cuss with me, you little cuss!

How Fun It Was: Overall, pretty funny--not laugh out loud hilarious the whole time, but the whole thing has a comedic mood.

The Positives: The stop-animation was pretty *ahem* fantastic. And the writing was well done. Even though it didn't have me laughing the whole time, I appreciated the wit. And the substitution of the word "cuss" makes this a movie that will be entertaining and appropriate for all ages. A big plus in my book.

The Negatives: The plot, while not really weak, was not incredibly engaging. It was a tad difficult to relate to the characters (and not because they are animals). I haven't read the story by Roald Dahl, so I don't know how accurate of an adaptation it was, but that is my biggest criticism.

The Theology, Philosophy, Morality or Application: There was a good bit about family values and trust. And understanding yourself. It's difficult to discern a clear point of application, because there wasn't much of a resolution in that area.

One thing I learned: You can easily substitute the F, S, D, B, A, and H words for the word "cuss," without losing much of the force of the statement. I am going to try to implement this.

The ending: Again, *ahem* pretty fantastic. Not honky-dory resolved, but wrapped up quite nicely.

Go/Rent/Buy/Don't: Rent it. Don't worry about the big screen. But it's a nice family flick.