I’m a great fan of Roald Dahl’s work, most notably Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and his deliciously dark short story, Lamb to the Slaughter. Over the weekend, I happen to see HBO’s behind-the-scenes special for a stop-motion animation adaptation of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. With ever unique director Wes Anderson at the helm, the “Making of” episode quickly caught my drifting attention.
You could see the level of detail in the characters and scenes. Compared to other stop-motion animation films, the textures really seemed to standout and make Mr. Fox’s world as realistic as stop-motion can be. As I mentioned in an earlier post, CGI and 3D animation are great and the way of the future. It’s just nice to see old-school craft still in action.
As he frequently does, Anderson cast many of the same talent from his earlier films — watch Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, or The Royal Tenenbaums and you’ll see what I mean. He has added George Clooney and Meryl Streep this time around, and I did chuckle when Jason Schwartzman described himself as their love child. It was hugely entertaining to see how they recorded George Clooney’s voice for Mr. Fox. George Clooney running about and acting silly? Can’t beat that in my book! Most of the time, voice actors are stuck in the studio, standing in front of the mic. This change-up during recording should add more depth and realism to the vocal performance. I listened to bits of the soundtrack online and it’s quite whimsical and very appropriate for the movie. Par for the course, Mr. Anderson.
It’s been a couple years since I’ve seen a major release stop-motion animation film in theater. I’m definitely looking forward to Fantastic Mr. Fox, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll brave the Black Friday crowds at Ward 16 or Dole Cannery. This latest stop-motion animation film should be screening somewhere near you Thanksgiving Day.
