Mr. Fox is an expert bird thief and loves it, until the day Mrs. Fox tells him that they are expecint a child and makes him promise to get an honest job. Mr. Fox does and begins writing a column for his local paper but pines for the job he was good at; in an effort to better his family’s life he buys a local tree and they move in – into the shadow of Boggis, Bunce & Bean, three of the meanest farmers in the land. When Mr. Fox decides to take up his bird thief ways again he unwittingly brings disaster onto all of the animals in his community.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a brilliant little movie; somehow, Wes Anderson did manage to turn a children’s story into a family film with his own personal flair. But this film has Wes Anderson stamped all over it, from the way the characters deliver their lines, to the quirky costumes they wear and the way they get stuck in situations of their own making. Don’t let the claymation stop you – this is a Wes Anderson film.
The one thing I have to mention about The Fantastic Mr. Fox is something that’s been festering for awhile. I keep overhearing people talking about how they don’t know why such a big deal is being made over the animation technology in this movie because the same thing was done in movies like Over the Hedge. I love Over the Hedge, have seen it many times and that’s why I know that’s a computer animated film. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is stop motion – totally different technology & completely different visual style to it. These were actual little models of the characters that were moved and photographed one frame at a time, not drawn inside a computer. If you really can’t see that it’s time to get your eyes checked.
I am going to go out on a limb and say that this film will be nominated for Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards this year. I do think it deserves the nomination, but I’m not sure it will win. The stiff competition for this film comes from Up, another brilliant family film that also deals with responsibility & family. It will be interesting to see who wins.
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach
Mr. Fox: George Clooney
Mrs. Fox: Meryl Streep
Ash: Jason Schwartzman
Badger: Bill Murray
Kristofferson: Eric Chase Anderson
Bean: Michael Gambon
Rat: Willem Dafoe
Coach Skip: Owen Wilson
Mr. Fox: Who am I, Kylie?
Kylie: Who how? What now?
Mr. Fox: Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I'm saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you'll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?
Kylie: I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds illegal.
Showing posts with label up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label up. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Up
Any adult that watches the beginning of Up and is not affected by the story of Carl & Ellie doesn’t have a heart. You might as well join league with the Grinch because you heart is two sizes too small.
I’ve seen Up twice now and watching Carl and Ellie meet, fall in love, and grow old together still moves me. Ellie is only physically in the film for about ten minutes or so and yet her character drives the film. She was Carl’s world and in those few images the filmmakers make you fall as in love with Ellie as Carl is, so that you completely understand his sorrow when she is gone.
The most astounding thing to me about the whole movie is that Ellie remains a character through the whole film because of the house. Carl carries Ellie with him physically by taking the house, the life they lived together with him on his adventure to Paradise Falls.
Even though this is a children’s film it is layered with subtext that live action films can’t accomplish. Pixar is truly able to perfect some of their stories like no one else because of the manner in which they are forced to tell them. By being an animated film the filmmakers have multiple versions of the film created before they ever being the final, animated version of the film. By the time they get around to that version they have more than figured out what works, what falls flat and how to make the characters on screen as three dimensional as their animation technique.
While Pixar normally has the best animated film category of the Oscars locked up, I am interested to see what will happen as there will be five nominees (one probably from Wes Anderson) this year. I think Up will still walk away with the golden boy, but it could be an interesting year.
Carl: Hey, let's play a game. It's called "see who can be quiet the longest."
Russell: Cool! My mom loves that game!
I’ve seen Up twice now and watching Carl and Ellie meet, fall in love, and grow old together still moves me. Ellie is only physically in the film for about ten minutes or so and yet her character drives the film. She was Carl’s world and in those few images the filmmakers make you fall as in love with Ellie as Carl is, so that you completely understand his sorrow when she is gone.
The most astounding thing to me about the whole movie is that Ellie remains a character through the whole film because of the house. Carl carries Ellie with him physically by taking the house, the life they lived together with him on his adventure to Paradise Falls.
Even though this is a children’s film it is layered with subtext that live action films can’t accomplish. Pixar is truly able to perfect some of their stories like no one else because of the manner in which they are forced to tell them. By being an animated film the filmmakers have multiple versions of the film created before they ever being the final, animated version of the film. By the time they get around to that version they have more than figured out what works, what falls flat and how to make the characters on screen as three dimensional as their animation technique.
While Pixar normally has the best animated film category of the Oscars locked up, I am interested to see what will happen as there will be five nominees (one probably from Wes Anderson) this year. I think Up will still walk away with the golden boy, but it could be an interesting year.
Carl: Hey, let's play a game. It's called "see who can be quiet the longest."
Russell: Cool! My mom loves that game!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Up
Carl Fredrickson grew up fascinated with adventure but was too afraid to actually do anything, until he met the girl that would become his wife in Ellie. He and Ellie planned to have glorious adventures and travels together but of course life intefeared right up through Ellie’s death. Carl’s whole world was Ellie and without her he never expanded and learned to deal with the outside world. When the city rules that Carl needs to move into a retirement home he rigs his house to become a flying vessel with hundreds of balloons and tries to follow the flight path his idol Charles Muntz to Paradise Falls – where he and Ellie always wanted to go. However, Carl accidently picks up hitchhiker Russell whom Carl sent on a snipe-hunt. Together Carl and Russell make their way to Paradise Falls and discover that Muntz is still there.
Up is a beautiful movie. It’s full of symbols, well-rounded characters you can connect with, imagination, stunning visuals and more than anything else it is a film that knows what it wants to tell you and how it wants to tell it. There is no wasted space in a pixar film. From start to finish every shot, line and beat is plotted, purposeful and concise in a way that no one else can do simply because it is what their production process dictates. This perfection has led to making Up one of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen this year.
Perhaps what I love best about Up is that it is a movie about fatherhood. Carl Freidrickson is an old man that never got a chance to be a father. He and Ellie tried but couldn’t become parents; once Ellie was gone this left Carl alone in the world until Russell accidently came into his life. Russell is the child that Carl never had. Though Carl is annoyed and aggravated by Russell he slowly comes to develop affection for the boy; this happens in large part because Russell needs a father. As Russell talks incessantly to Carl he begins to reveal that his parents are divorced, and he rarely sees or talks to his father – this has lead Russell to Carl’s doorstep, literally. Russell joined the Wildreness Scouts because it’s something fathers are supposed to do with their sons. When that doesn’t work to get his father’s attention he earns every badge in existence, because the fathers are supposed to come to the ceremony to pin them on, and when that doesn’t work he goes after the final badge which will lead him to his promotion and Carl – the helping the elderly badge. As their adventures wind to a close Carl realizes that Russell needs him as much as he needs Russell and the actualization of this is beautiful.
I am not a crier at movies. However, Up had me very close to crying. I dare you to not be emotionally affected by the montage of Carl’s life with Ellie, or the ending sequence between Russell and Carl. Also, Dug the dog cannot be missed.
Directors & Writers: Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson
Carl Fredricksen: Ed Asner
Charles Muntz: Christopher Plummer
Russell: Jordan Nagai
Dug: Bob Peterson
Beta: Delroy Lindo
Carl Fredricksen: This is crazy. I finally meet my childhood hero and he's trying to kill us. What a joke.
Dug: Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to gather acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha ha! It's funny because the squirrel gets dead.
Up is a beautiful movie. It’s full of symbols, well-rounded characters you can connect with, imagination, stunning visuals and more than anything else it is a film that knows what it wants to tell you and how it wants to tell it. There is no wasted space in a pixar film. From start to finish every shot, line and beat is plotted, purposeful and concise in a way that no one else can do simply because it is what their production process dictates. This perfection has led to making Up one of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen this year.
Perhaps what I love best about Up is that it is a movie about fatherhood. Carl Freidrickson is an old man that never got a chance to be a father. He and Ellie tried but couldn’t become parents; once Ellie was gone this left Carl alone in the world until Russell accidently came into his life. Russell is the child that Carl never had. Though Carl is annoyed and aggravated by Russell he slowly comes to develop affection for the boy; this happens in large part because Russell needs a father. As Russell talks incessantly to Carl he begins to reveal that his parents are divorced, and he rarely sees or talks to his father – this has lead Russell to Carl’s doorstep, literally. Russell joined the Wildreness Scouts because it’s something fathers are supposed to do with their sons. When that doesn’t work to get his father’s attention he earns every badge in existence, because the fathers are supposed to come to the ceremony to pin them on, and when that doesn’t work he goes after the final badge which will lead him to his promotion and Carl – the helping the elderly badge. As their adventures wind to a close Carl realizes that Russell needs him as much as he needs Russell and the actualization of this is beautiful.
I am not a crier at movies. However, Up had me very close to crying. I dare you to not be emotionally affected by the montage of Carl’s life with Ellie, or the ending sequence between Russell and Carl. Also, Dug the dog cannot be missed.
Directors & Writers: Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson
Carl Fredricksen: Ed Asner
Charles Muntz: Christopher Plummer
Russell: Jordan Nagai
Dug: Bob Peterson
Beta: Delroy Lindo
Carl Fredricksen: This is crazy. I finally meet my childhood hero and he's trying to kill us. What a joke.
Dug: Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to gather acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha ha! It's funny because the squirrel gets dead.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Coming Soon
I've watched all of these, but haven't had the time to review them yet. I will get them up as soon as possible. I've decided to add TV shows on here, but only when I watch the entire season at once, so True Blood: season one will be on here first and soon I'll have my thoughts on Battlestar Gallactica: season one.
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