Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 clay-mation animated film based on Roald Dahl's novel produced by 20th Century Fox. It was released on November 25, 2009.
Plot[]
While raiding Berk's Squab Farm, Mr. Fox triggers a fox trap caging himself along with his wife, Felicity. She reveals her pregnancy to her husband and pleads with him to find a safer job if they escape, and he agrees.
12 fox years) later, the Foxes and their son Ash are living in a hole. Mr. Fox, now a newspaper columnist, moves the family into a better home inside a tree, ignoring the warnings of his lawyer Clive Badger about how dangerous the area is for foxes due to its proximity to facilities run by three farmers: Walt Boggis, Nate Bunce, and Frank Bean.
Soon after the Foxes move in, Felicity's nephew Kristofferson Silverfox comes to live with them due to his father receiving long-term medical treatment for double pneumonia. While Mr. and Mrs. Fox welcome him, Ash finds this situation intolerable, as his soft-spoken cousin is superior to him at almost everything and is charming everyone at his expense. Longing for his days as a thief, Mr. Fox and his opossum friend Kylie, the superintendent, steal produce and poultry from Boggis and Bunce's farms. They take Kristofferson along on the raid on Bean's cider cellar, which deepens Ash's resentment. Mr. Fox conceals these outings from Felicity, who becomes suspicious when unexplained food appears in their larder.
Angered by the raids, the farmers decide to kill Mr. Fox. They camp out near his home, and when Mr. Fox emerges, they open fire but only shoot off his tail. After demolishing the site of the tree while attempting to dig Mr. Fox out, they discover the Foxes have dug an escape tunnel. As the Foxes will have to surface for food and water, the farmers wait at the tunnel mouth. Underground, Felicity is upset that Mr. Fox returned to his thieving ways.
The group encounters Badger and many other local animal residents whose homes the farmers have also destroyed. As the animals begin fearing starvation, Mr. Fox calls them together and leads them on a digging expedition to tunnel to the three farms, stealing all of their prized goods. While the animals feast, Ash and Kristofferson begin to reconcile after Kristofferson defends Ash from Beaver's son.
Discovering that Mr. Fox has stolen their goods, the farmers and the fire chief flood the animals' tunnel network with some of Bean's cider, forcing the animals to retreat to the sewers. Ash and Kristofferson slip away from the celebration and return to Bean's farm, intending to reclaim the missing tail, but Bean's wife captures Kristofferson. Realizing that the farmers plan to use Kristofferson to lure him into an ambush, Mr. Fox heads to the surface to surrender but returns when Rat, Bean's violent security guard, confronts the animals and attacks Ash and Felicity. A fight between Mr. Fox and Rat results in the latter being pushed into a generator, electrocuting him. Before dying, Rat reveals that Kristofferson is being held in an attic in Bean Annex, prompting Mr. Fox to organize a rescue mission.
Mr. Fox asks the farmers for a meeting in Paddington near the sewer hub, offering to surrender himself on the condition that the farmers free Kristofferson and spare the other animals. The farmers prepare an ambush, but the animals, anticipating it, launch a counterattack that allows Mr. Fox, Ash, and Kylie to enter Bean Annex undetected. Ash frees Kristofferson and impresses his father and the group by braving enemy fire to release a rabid beagle to keep the farmers at bay. The animal snatches the fox tail from Mr. Bean and rips it apart. Kristofferson picks up the torn tail as the group escapes back to the sewers.
As the farmers wait for the animals to come out of the manhole, the animals settle into their new homes in the sewers, inviting any other animals to join them. Soon after, Fox (sporting the tail as a clip on) raids a supermarket owned by the farmers, where Felicity reveals her upcoming pregnancy as the animals dance in the aisle, celebrating their abundant new food source.
Cast[]
- George Clooney as Mr. Fox
- Meryl Streep as Mrs. Felicity Fox
- Jason Schwartzman as Ash Fox
- Bill Murray as Clive Badger Esq.
- Willem Dafoe as Rat
- Michael Gambon as Frank Bean
- Owen Wilson as Coach Skip
- Wallace Wolodarsky as Kylie
- Eric Chase Anderson as Kristofferson Silverfox
- Jarvis Cocker as Petey
- Wes Anderson as Stan Weasel
- Robin Hurlstone as Walt Boggis
- Hugo Guinness as Nate Bunce
- Helen McCrory as Mrs. Bean
- Juman Malouf as Agnes
- Karen Duffy as Linda Otter
- Roman Coppola as Squirrel Contractor
- Garth Jennings as Bean's son
- Brian Cox as Daniel Peabody
- Steven Rales as Beaver
- Jeremy Dawson as Beaver's Son
- James Hamilton as Phil Mole
- Jennifer Furches as Dr. Badger
- Mario Batali as Rabbit
- Allison Abbate as Rabbit's ex-girlfriend
- Molly Cooper as Rabbit Girl
- Adrien Brody as Mouse
- Martin Ballard as Fire chief
Production[]
Joe Roth and Revolution Studios bought the film rights to Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2004. Henry Selick was originally animators with Anderson film "Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" as animation director
In September 2007, Anderson announced voice work would begin. The director chose to record the voices outside rather than in a studio: "We went out in a forest, [..] went in an attic, [and] went in a stable. We went underground for some things. There was a great spontaneity in the recordings because of that." He said of the production design, "We want to use real trees and real sand, but it's all miniature." Great Missenden, where Roald Dahl lived, has a major influence on the film's look. The film mixes several forms of animation but consists primarily of stop motion. Animation took place in London, on stage C at 3 Mills Studio, with Anderson directing the crew, many of whom animated Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Selick, who kept in contact with Anderson, said the director would act out scenes while in Paris and send them to the animators via iPhone.