From: Alan Cook <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:30:49 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Fw: Re:  FANTASTIC MR. FOX


I hope the following goes through---the message previously did not reach puptcrit for unknown reasons.


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Cook
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 2:05 PM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] FANTASTIC MR. FOX

I saw more of a link to pioneer stop-motion puppeteer Starevich who worked in Russia and elsewhere. The animation of "Fantastic M. Fox" is not all that "jerky" if it communicates feelings, real gestures and such tricky moves as snapping fingers.

Puppets & Masks focus on key things when used well, skipping extraneous stuff that might come with human actors. It is a kind of focus on the character emotions---Starevich did it in his film about the jealous spouse with a camera (revenge). Wes Anderson's group did it about survival of the animals.

At the end of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" We see a wolf in a snowy landscape----with a hint of global warming (denied by Bush/Cheney for eight years in the interest of a quick buck)---a kind of underlining the plight of animal survival on a larger scale. Mr. Fox and the wolf communicate by a gesture of solidarity, and the movie ends.

Did the movie take the audience to a special place as good books fo children do? YES.

Did the audience relate to the characters?
I did and the people around me did.

Is the movie worth the purchase of a ticket (the proper bottom line of a review)---YES, and critics have responded favorably. Wit and dstinctive style (plus well-defined characters and a sense of place) is a lot for your money these days---certainly better than most of what we get.

Rodney King, who set off a riot in Los Angeles, was quoted as saying "Can't we all get along?"

Of course he was driving erratically. Post riots, he was arrested for spouse abuse, so maybe he could have tried to get along better, as we all can.

Like the animals & the people---we all live on the same planet.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Frith
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 10:15 AM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] FANTASTIC MR. FOX

UK reviews of Fantastic Mr Fox have compared the animation quality to  
the work of Jan Svankmajer or Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin; by  
which it's clear that they mean a roughness and quirky charm when  
compared with the smart smoothness of Pixar or Dreamworks animation.  
This is certainly true, and it's one of the good things about the  
film, but making those comparisons also brings attention to the  
weaknesses; in particular the lack of complete control of the material  
that both Postgate/Firmin and Svankmajer always exhibit in their work.  
The unsatisfactory messiness created by the mixing of American and  
British voices is one example of this.
The story also isn't one of Dahl's best =EF=BF=BD it's a great idea but poorly  
constructed and unbalanced and the film inherits these faults. Still,  
it has its moments and at its best has wit and a distinctive visual  
style.
Bob Frith


On 14 Nov 2009, at 17:50, Michael wrote:

> Hi Alan
>
> Maybe Huckleberry Finn was not the best example, maybe Emmet Otter  
> would
> have been better (though not as well known) but I can see your point  
> about
> the difference in accents emphasising the difference in species. Who  
> knows
> what accents animals would have or should have, I just feel a film  
> set in
> Britain with British "baddies" should also have British voices for the
> animals. A fox is a particularly British animal, it is thought of
> characteristically as quite sly and cunning which is why, not so  
> long ago,
> it took several men on horse back and packs of hounds to even come  
> close to
> catching one and why, I imagine, Dahl choose to write about it in  
> this way.
> As someone who read the book as a child, and also had it read to us  
> in class
> at School, having the fox voiced by George Clooney doesn't fit. I am  
> sure in
> the States this isn't such an issue because Roald Dahl and his books  
> were
> not so much a part of your culture, but here in the UK, certainly  
> for my
> generation, they are. They are British books with mostly British
> characters - although Dahl had Norwegian parents he was born and  
> raised in
> Wales - and I feel they lost authenticity with these choices. I am  
> by no
> means against US actors and voices being used in films, I would feel  
> just as
> strongly if it had been the other way around and it was a US book.
>
> Chicken Run was another good example, even though they managed to  
> keep a
> real British feel to the film (and some fantastic British voices) the
> influences of DreamWorks meant a big Hollywood voice was required -  
> Mel
> Gibson. It's inevitable if we want to see movies like this made then  
> they
> have to make money, and to make money they need a draw for the  
> audiences -
> that draw tends to be a big name. I just think sometimes they get it  
> wrong.
> Anyway like I said in my first post I am judging this from the  
> trailers - I
> may think differently once I have seen the full film.
>
> Michael.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
> Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] FANTASTIC MR. FOX
>
>
>> Huckleberry Finn (and Tom Sawyer) lived on the Mississippi at a  
>> time the
>> USA was still becoming a country---in Fantastic Mr Fox, the three  
>> evil
>> farmers are certainly British, the town & farms and businesses are
>> British, (a missing "O" on an Autom-tive sign is a sly touch about  
>> the
>> people side) but the animals seem to be more animals than
>> British---especially at mealtimes. Essentially there is England for  
>> the
>> people and Animalland for the animals---two worlds side-by-side.   
>> For me,
>> the different accents emphasize that separation.
>>
>> If Mr. Fox was a person, he'd have been a sly  used-car salesman  
>> perhaps,
>> but he's a wild animal who steals chickens---an anti-hero with smooth
>> charm and he is on a collision course with monopolist people who  
>> are not
>> particularly saintly themselves.
>>
>> Character-wise, the puppets' design are right on target, and their  
>> moves
>> are ACTING MOVES---the rat snaps his fingers in a kind of dance which
>> reminded me of West Side Story (based on a British play, performed  
>> with
>> American accents in a culture clash American setting).
>>
>> Mr Fox's young nephew Kris is an upright, virtuous being, into  
>> meditation,
>> he's athletic, he's bright. Mr. Fox's son feels overshadowed by him  
>> when
>> he comes to live with his family. Mrs Fox is lied to repeatedly by  
>> Mr.
>> Fox---if there was a version of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) called
>> Chickenholics Anonymous, she might try to get her husband to attend
>> meetings.
>>
>> The book was expanded, obviously, to make a movie, but the spirit  
>> of the
>> book's characters was maintained in the script, and in the puppet
>> manipulation and for me it all comes together quite marvelously.
>>
>> That they could pull off closeups of the animal heads on a BIG  
>> SCREEN and
>> maintain believeability in the animal characters confirms that the  
>> puppet
>> builders and puppet animators contributed enormously to this effort  
>> of
>> integrated talents. It is what movies can do, but rarely so well---to
>> bring it all together.
>>
>> Even in all the still photos from the film, the puppet characters  
>> LOOK
>> RIGHT as characters.
>>
>> "Coraline" also succeeded in this way.
>>
>> THAT IS GOOD PUPPETRY at work.
>>
>>
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