(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:

Judd Apatow's Attempt at Dramatic Comedy

Judd Apatow's Funny People comes out on DVD today and, despite the film's title, is actually just as much of a drama as it is a comedy. The movie isn't just fun and games and that wonderful brand of raunchy comedy that we've come to expect (and love) from Apatow. Instead, it tries to be a lot more and actually enjoys modest success for its efforts.

It tells the story of superstar comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler, Apatow's real life ex-roommate) who is somewhat of a self-important ass. Simmons is diagnosed with leukemia and given a very small chance to live. Facing this news, Simmons decides he wants to spend his remaining days doing stand-up, his first love. And he hires struggling comedian Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) to help him write jokes for his act and basically work as his personal assistant. As the two get closer, Ira convinces George to tell others about his illness.

George contacts his ex-wife Laura (played by Apatow's real life wife, Leslie Mann) who is now married with two daughters. She tells George that she misses him and is unhappy with her marriage. Eventually, George overcomes his illness. And events transpire that force Laura to really make a decision between George and her husband (played by Eric Bana). I won't ruin the rest of the movie for anyone, but, if you can't tell so far, the plot is much more developed and serious than your average Apatow film. Dealing with life threatening illnesses and lost loves, the film is as much a coming-of-age tale about both Ira and George as it is anything else. Although not as emotionally compelling as a really good drama, I still found myself actually caring what happened to our characters (really one of the key ways that I judge whether a drama is good or not).

For as much as I've talked about the drama in this movie, there is still some comedy in it. The stand-up bits (by the way, the stars of the movie actually traveled across the country doing live stand-up at various comedy spots for the footage in the movie) are moderately funny, but they actually would've been much funnier if the film had included more of the work of Aziz Ansari (you might know him from Scrubs or Parks & Recreation) whose work as "Raaaaaandy" has actually developed somewhat of a cult following. You can check out some of his stuff that was left out here. Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up) and Jason Schwartzman are both somewhat funny in supporting roles. And I'm also really starting to fall in love with Apatow's newest stars, his daughters Maude and Iris (also the daughters from Knocked Up). They're actually really funny. But, all in all, the comedy is somewhat lacking compared to Apatow's other films. And if you have no interest in anything but laughing, you will probably be disappointed. There is just too much time devoted to more serious matters.

Bottom Line: The movie is sort of a combination of an average comedy and an average drama. But for whatever reason, I actually thought it was pretty decent. Be warned that it is rather long, but I think it's definitely worth a watch. But maybe not a buy. (B-)

Here's the preview:

Other movies coming out on DVD:

Angels & Demons -- This was a very average thriller that had some pretty entertaining parts but seemed relatively uninspired. Unless you have to own it because of the book, I wouldn't bother. (C)

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: