(Mostly) Fantastic Mr. Fox

Anyone who read my preview post about Fantastic Mr. Fox knows that I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson. And I was pretty excited about the movie. And for good reason -- aside from Wes Anderson's direction, the movie had a lot going for it: the voice cast was great, it was done in very cool and underused stop animation style, and the movie had been getting great reviews (including a nearly unheard of 100% rating on rottentomatoes). But, much to my chagrin, despite having been released for two weeks, the movie was not playing anywhere near me (Charlotte, NC) until the last few days.

To say I was disappointed would be misleading. I liked the movie. I really did. I just didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It was definitely enjoyable, and there were many things about it that were vintage Anderson. Despite being an adaptation of a children's book, it was certainly geared towards adults. It was full of the dark, humorous, and awkward one liners we've come to love from Anderson. I think my favorite character of the movie was actually Jason Schwartzman's "Ash," Mr. Fox's insecure son who is obsessed with proving himself to his father as being an athlete (the sport they play in the movie, called "whackbat," is pretty hilarious). His approval-seeking (and yet rebellious at the same time) attitude leads to some pretty funny moments. And George Clooney's "Mr. Fox" also had some pretty funny lines as well.

The stop animation was very well done and made me realize that more movies should be done this way. As I watched, I thought about how long it must take to produce a stop animation film -- according to WikiAnswers, it probably takes about 1 to 2 hours for every 30 seconds of animating; if you extrapolate that out to 90 minutes of movie, you're looking at about 180 to 360 hours. Keep in mind that this is only to shoot the movie and doesn't factor in all the prep time it takes to actually create the scenes. It's no small time commitment. And the voice work (especially Jason Schwartzman and Michael Gambon as "Mr. Bean") was also pretty good. Most of the movie was George Clooney's "Mr. Fox" talking, but his voice fit the part well. And Streep sounded like a natural as the supportive, yet frustrated, "Mrs. Fox."

But there seemed to be certain things that were lost in translation -- things that I would've appreciated and enjoyed much more if the movie had real people in it. I think it made various parts less funny than they otherwise could have been if real actors were on screen (i.e., I would've laughed much more if Bill Murray the man was on screen as opposed to Bill Murray the badger). It's really not anyone's fault -- pretty much all animated (especially stop animation) movies suffer from a similar fate. It's hard to convey certain facial expressions through animated characters, and, for the most part, real people are just funnier than animated characters (in this blogger's opinion anyway). Don't get me wrong -- I completely understand that this movie needed to be animated (it is, after all, about a group of talking animals), and, truthfully, many of the movie's strengths stem from the fact that it was. But I'm still much more of a fan of "real life" Wes Anderson movies. And I probably always will be.

Bottom line: Wes Anderson loyalists might be slightly disappointed with the film, but it is still a quality piece of work with many things you'd typically expect from him. The stop animation is pretty cool, and I'd recommend it to moviegoers of all ages. (B)

Here's the trailer:

Wes Anderson Like We've Never Seen Before

Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors. I know that his work can be pretty polarizing, and most people either love him or hate him. But I think the guy's a genius. The Royal Tennenbaums is pretty high on my all-time movie list. And Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Darjeeling Limited are all quality pieces of work. But his new movie, coming out November 25, is going to assuredly be something a little different.

Fantastic Mr. Fox will be Anderson's first animated (stop animation, actually) film. It's tough to know what to really expect from this film. No director I've ever liked so much has ever done anything animated, and I really wonder how different the film will be from the rest of his work. But, despite the guaranteed differences due to the film being animated, any Wes Anderson fan will be pretty excited about all the old Wes Anderson favorites joining the film for voice work: Bill Murray (Life Aquatic, Royal Tennenbaums, Darjeeling Limited), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Darjeeling Limited), Owen Wilson (Darjeeling Limited, Royal Tennenbaums, Life Aquatic, Bottle Rocket), Anjelica Huston (Royal Tennenbaums, Life Aquatic, Darjeeling Limited), Adrien Brody (Darjeeling Limited), Willem Dafoe (Life Aquatic), and even Wes Anderson himself.

And if those names don't excite you, there are some really big names joining the usual Wes Anderson crew: George Clooney (who will play Mr. Fox), Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox), and Michael Gambon (you know him better as Dumbledore from the Harry Potter movies). With one hell of a director and such a great voice cast, it should be interesting to see what the final product looks like.

Here's the preview:

The United States of Zombieland

Comedy/horror movie Zombieland is really good. I saw it expecting something along the lines of Shaun of the Dead, but what I saw was much better. Be warned that it's more than a little gory, but the movie boasts a great cast, great writing, and pretty good special effects (it really does a nice job of using slow motion -- I know that sounds weird, but trust me). It also finds a way to actually develop the characters like most comedies struggle to do. Put all this together and you've got the ultimate zombie flick and comedy combo.

The story revolves around four main characters all trying to survive in a US that has been overrun with zombies. It stars Jessie Eisenberg, an actor who has had a fantastic year in this blogger's opinion with both Adventureland and Zombieland. Granted, he plays basically the same awkward-and-constantly-nervous-yet-somehow-still-cool character (think the character that Michael Cera always plays) in both movies, but they were exactly what the role called for, and neither would have been great movies without his performance. Eisenberg's "Columbus" (the characters all just call themselves by the towns they were born in) narrates the story, and his narration really adds to the film's humor. He starts the movie off on a high note by filling in audience members on some of the rules of his "Survival Guide to Zombieland." And these constantly come up throughout the movie. Trust me when I say you'll laugh more than once when a rule pops up.

Columbus teams up with zombie-slaying, twinkie-obsessed badass "Tallahassee," played by Woody Harrelson. I've never been a huge Harrelson fan (aside from his role as Roy Munson in Kingpin), but he's probably the funniest guy in the movie. The two eventually team up with two girls, "Wichita" and "Little Rock." Wichita, played by Emma Stone (Superbad, The Rocker), plays Columbus's love interest, and it's pretty funny when he finally gets the girl. And increasingly popular Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Definitely, Maybe, My Sister's Keeper) plays Little Rock.

Audience members are given a real treat when Bill Murray (reuniting with Harrelson after his turn as "Big Ern McCracken" in Kingpin) cameos as himself. It's not quite on the level of Matt Damon in Eurotrip or Val Kilmer in Entourage, but it's pretty damn good.

Bottom line: If you go to this movies this week, go see Zombieland; just good old fashioned family fun (for families where everyone is 17+). (B+)

Here's the preview:

Sidenote: I saw the preview for Saw VI before movie. Can we please stop making these?