Posted on January 22, 2013 at 8:00 am
The Oscar-nominated screenplay for “Moonrise Kingdom” is available online, and, as Wes Anderson fans might expect, it is gorgeously illustrated and filled with rich detail. Well worth a look and a download.
Posted on June 10, 2012 at 10:19 am
My favorite part of Moonrise Kingdom was the books. Wes Anderson’s props are often more appealing than his characters (I still long for that luggage from Darjeeling Limited). “Moonrise Kingdom” is set in 1965 and one of its lead 12-year-old characters brings library books with her when she runs away from home. Those books are all created by Anderson with six different graphic designers commissioned to create book jackets for books that look and sound as though they could have been written in the 1960’s — and that will make you wish they had been, so you could look for vintage copies on Ebay. Anderson has created an enchanting animated short featuring these books that is utterly captivating.
Posted on March 23, 2010 at 12:00 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | 4th - 6th Grades |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for action, smoking and slang humor |
| Profanity: | Humorous use of the word "cuss" in place of swear words |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Character smokes a cigar, alcoholic cider |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Characters in peril, violence includes guns, fights, explosions, character injured but no one seriously hurt |
| Diversity Issues: | Diverse characters, retro gender roles |
| Date Released to Theaters: | November 25, 2009 |
| Date Released to DVD: | February 18, 2014 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00GRA7KBY |
Today Criterion issues a gorgeous new Blu-Ray edition of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” with lots of great behind-the-scenes extras. Director Wes Anderson has often seemed more interested in his films’ props and sets than the characters and stories. His last movie’s most memorable character was a set of luggage (The Darjeeling Limited). The previous one’s most memorable image was a cutaway that turned a sea-going vessel into a sort of doll’s house (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). And so perhaps it is not surprising that his liveliest and most appealing movie is “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a story told through stop-motion animation, every shot filled with precise and intricate detail. This is movie-making as Cornell Box.
The effect might be suffocating but for Anderson’s superbly chosen collaborators. While his previous films have been based on original material, this time he uses a beloved book by one of the foremost children’s book authors of the late 20th century, Road Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
It’s a Peter Rabbit-style story, with the title character in a battle with three farmers: “Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, one fat, one short, one lean,” according to a taunting children’s song. Fox (Clooney) agreed to stop stealing from the farmers when Mrs. Fox (Streep) became pregnant and has settled into a foxy middle-class life, working as a newspaper columnist. But he feels the call of the wild — and the call of the farmers’ plump chickens, apple cider, and geese. He starts stealing again, bringing down the wrath of the farmers on the whole animal kingdom. It is up to Fox to find a way to save them all.
The theme of the call of the wild comes up several times as the story shifts back and forth between ultra-civilization (Fox wears a shirt and tie) and the animal instincts of the non-human characters. The combination of the very familiar (Fox’s son Ash feels neglected, especially after his more talented and cool cousin comes to stay), the very cerebral (the “Oceans 11”-style heist plans), and the strangely feral (watch the way Fox eats) keeps the story as intriguing as the tiny props and costumes and the odd, stiff movements of the stop-motion figures. Unlike plasticine-based stop-motion (“Coraline,” “Wallace and Gromit”), the high-touch textures of the figures make them seem like toys come to life.
The screen is filled with enticing details, but it is the performances that keep us connected to what is going on. The script is filled with arcane non sequiturs but the warmth of those voices, with able support from Anderson’s brother Eric and regulars Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson, keep us in the story. And that really is fantastic.
Posted on February 26, 2008 at 5:18 pm
If Wes Andersen ever decides to treat his characters with the same loving attention he treats his props, he will make better movies. Oh the tschotchkes in this movie! It’s like a long, loving J. Peterman catalogue commercial. If only the people in front of and carting around all of these delectable objects were as intriguing as the objects themselves. Especially those being carted around — the fabulous numbered matching set of luggage brought along on this journey is more compelling than the people carrying it.
That would be the three estranged brothers who inherited the baggage, both metaphorical and literal. The journey is organized by Francis (Owen Wilson, with his head elaborately bandaged through most of the movie), who has brought along an aide with a printer and a laminating machine to hand tuck daily itineraries under the door of the title train’s compartment. Francis has invited Peter (stork-legged Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) to take the train ride with him after a year apart following their father’s funeral.
It is beautiful to look at and there are some intriguing developments. But they are encrusted with precious quirkiness and ironic air quotes that get in the way. Casual cruelty and cool reactions to tragedy attempt fall short of insight. Too much goes on around the edges and too little goes on in the center of the screen.
There are brief moments that show what Anderson is capable of. A pan through the train cars, reminiscent of Joan Crawford’s dazzling vision in “Possessed,” makes us want to see the movie that sensibility is capable of.
Posted on December 13, 2002 at 5:16 am
This story about the misery that comes from the grandiosity and humiliation during adolescence is probably of more interest to adults than to the teens who are already only too aware of those experiences. Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is a 10th grader on scholarship at the tony private school Rushmore Academy. His passionate devotion to the school is demonstrated by his frenetic participation in every possible extra-curricular activity, including the staging of his elaborate (if derivative) plays. His grades, however, are close to disastrous, and the headmaster tells him that if they do not improve, he will be expelled.
Max develops a crush on one of the teachers at the school, a beautiful young widow. And he forms a close alliance with Blume, a wealthy alumnus of the school (Bill Murray), a man who is drawn to Max’s passions, and even acts as a go-between for Max’s absurd attempt at courtship, until he himself becomes attracted to the teacher.
All three main characters are feeling a sense of loss. Blume and the teacher seem stuck. Max, with his collision of adult and childish emotions, comes up with one hopeless scheme after another to attract attention and respect, ignoring the genuine opportunities for real friendship that are presented to him. He lies about receiving sexual favors from another student’s mother. He tells people his father is a brain surgeon instead of a barber. He decides that what will solve his problems is getting Blume to spend $8 million on an acquarium for the school, located on the school’s playing field. He gets drunk and insults the teacher’s date. He even risks killing Blume. Yet somehow, he manages to keep working toward his dreams, and even to make a few of them come true.
This is not a movie in which people learn great lessons and are drawn closer together. This is a movie in which a lot of hurt people grope toward something that even they cannot quite visualize. Its appeal is in its quirky characters and in its moments of humor and perception.
Parental concerns include very strong language and sexual references as well as extremely reckless and destructive behavior.
