Veni Vidi Vulpis

Oscar & I read the book last week and saw the movie on Saturday.  I thought it was worth watching and Oscar didn’t find it impenetrably mannered.

In the case of Wes Anderson, accusations of self-parody seem both inapposite and mirthless.  Nevertheless, that was my first reaction; watching the stop-motion figures glide into frame and then abruptly check themselves for declamation reminded me of nothing so much as Anderson’s delightful American Express commercial.

I’m not at all disappointed that the film departed from the book, which I found underwhelming.  The film’s plot — while spare for Anderson — was probably still airy enough to confuse younger viewers used to characters with less constipated motivations.  I was most surprised at how much of the film is carried by the voice actors.  In the post-Pixar/Aardman era, celebrities voicing animated characters seems a bit of a throwback, but visually Anderson’s puppets are the least expressive anthropomorphized animals I’ve ever seen.  Fortunately, Anderson cast George Clooney, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, and Willem Dafoe, all of whom breathe much-needed life into this Joseph Cornell box of a film.  Curiously, despite a well-deserved reputation for voice virtuosity, Meryl Streep’s performance of Mrs. Fox did little to, well, animate the Fox marriage, the most important relationship in the film.  The burden falls on Clooney, who pulls it off.