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Entertainment

Fantastic Mr. Fox

By John Mulderig
Source: Catholic News Service


Scene from the animated adventure "Fantastic Mr. Fox."
A reformed predator in the animal world of rural Britain suffers a midlife crisis in the droll stop-motion animated adventure "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (Fox).

The result—a touch of menace and a single questionable joke aside—is a parable rich in sophisticated family entertainment, with abundant fun for youngsters and a few insights into the tensions and paradoxes of human nature for adults.

Director and co-writer (with Noah Baumbach) Wes Anderson's clever, lovingly crafted adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1970 children's book finds its titular vulpine character (voice of George Clooney) torn between his respectable life as newspaper columnist and family man— with caring but pragmatic Mrs. Fox (voice of Meryl Streep) and slightly quirky son Ash (voice of Jason Schwartzman) depending on him—and the memories of his wild past as a chicken thief poaching on local farms.

Abetted by his daring nephew Kristofferson (voice of Eric Anderson, the director's brother) and possum pal Kylie (voice of Wally Wolodarsky), Mr. Fox resumes his raids. But the infuriated response of a trio of mean-spirited farmers (voices of Michael Gambon, Robin Hurlstone and Hugo Guinness)—who resort to ever escalating countermeasures— eventually threatens not only the Fox clan, but their whole burrowing community.

Underlying the gentle domestic comedy generated by Mr. Fox's inept attempts to deceive his spouse about his backsliding—Ma Fox, like Alice Kramden of "The Honeymooners" before her, knows her husband's foibles far too well to be misled for long—lies a positive and touching portrayal of marriage.

And, though somewhat more melancholy, the father-son relationship between Mr. Fox and Ash, which involves the eccentric, cape-wearing boy in a seemingly hopeless rivalry with his dashing cousin, movingly reflects the universal yearning for parental acceptance.

As Mr. Fox wavers between the rewards of stability and the lure of danger, scenes in which his otherwise placid behavior suddenly gives way to a frenzy of mindless eating, from which he emerges slightly dazed, hint at the capacity of human passions and appetites to overwhelm the necessary restraints of civilized life.

While the violence on view here is strictly of the cartoon variety, situations of peril— including the fate of Mr. Fox's tail—may be too much for the littlest.

As for a fleeting, supposedly humorous reference to Mrs. Fox's youthful indiscretions by which, we learn, she became known as the "town tart," the moment is entirely out of keeping with the otherwise unobjectionable proceedings, and might have warranted a more restrictive classification but for the value of the fable as a whole.

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I—general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG—parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

*****
Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Search reviews at CatholicMovieReviews.org

Jerome Emiliani: A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In prison Jerome had a lot of time to think, and he gradually learned how to pray. When he escaped, he returned to Venice where he took charge of the education of his nephews—and began his own studies for the priesthood. <p>In the years after his ordination, events again called Jerome to a decision and a new lifestyle. Plague and famine swept northern Italy. Jerome began caring for the sick and feeding the hungry at his own expense. While serving the sick and the poor, he soon resolved to devote himself and his property solely to others, particularly to abandoned children. He founded three orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes and a hospital. </p><p>Around 1532 Jerome and two other priests established a congregation, the Clerks Regular of Somasca, dedicated to the care of orphans and the education of youth. Jerome died in 1537 from a disease he caught while tending the sick. He was canonized in 1767. In 1928 Pius Xl named him the patron of orphans and abandoned children.</p> Can I Be Redeemed? The practice of prayer develops into a habit, and out of this habitual prayer God forms in us and with us the Christian virtues, especially humility and courage.

 
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