Fantastic Mr. Fox

This is one of those situations where I can't really review this film as an average person. Fantastic Mr. Fox is Wes Anderson's new film. I love Wes Anderson's films. I can't help it, there's something about his films that just work for me. So I can only really review the film as a Wes Anderson fan, but I'll try my best to think of how other people might see it... I can't promise anything though!

To start. Fantastic Mr. Fox is based on a Roald Dahl novel, he of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches fame. Well, he's more than that really he's a true cult novelist and he really is one of those people whose stories have touched millions (he sold over 100 million books) and when he died in 1990 the world really lost a unique talent. That said, I don't think I've read Fantastic Mr. Fox. I'm not sure because some parts of it did seems familiar, but I really don't remember... Actually I haven't read that many of his books at all but I appreciate the ones I have read and in particular the impact he's had on our culture.

But this isn't Roald Dahl appreciation hour... back to the film. Wes Anderson's style is all over this, of course he wrote the screenplay (with Noah Baumbach, his collaborator on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) so it was always going to be in his voice, as it were. But they aren't his characters or his story so it's a bit different from his other films. It isn't as quietly sad as some of them, but it is touching nonetheless. There are the charming, quirky characters that you'd expect and there are the beautiful set scenes that you could frame and put on your wall. Actually I wondering if I could get one framed... hmm... will have to look into that.

When I think about it, Wes Anderson was probably a great choice to direct this film. I had been sceptical as I wasn't sure what he was going to do with a children's story. Watching it, I remembered that Roald Dahl wasn't really a children's novelist in the traditional sense of the phrase. He didn't write stories about sweetness and light, he wrote stories to scare, disguist but also delight children. They were funny but they were dark, just like Wes Anderson's films...

So if you like Wes Anderson then you should definitely go to the film. If you don't know his films but you like Roald Dahl then you should definitely go to, I think it's a worthwhile adaptation.

If you're not familiar with either then I can't be sure... it's an interesting story and it's beautifully told but it's not entirely a kids film. The palette is somewhat muted so I don't know if it will necessarily be that engaging for younger children. It would probably be better for kids who would read Roald Dahl novels in the first place - so more for 9-14 year olds.

It'll be interesting to hear what adults think of the film... rottentomatoes.com reviews have all been positive so far, however there have only been 5 of them so hard to draw conclusions there. One thing they have been saying is that it's nostalgic and elegent. I find all Wes Anderson films like that but I suppose it's worth mention if you're not familiar with him.

Another thing worth mentioning is that it's filmed in stop-motion animation. I'm very accepting I guess, I don't mind if a film is full disney style animation, photorealistic animation, cel-shaded animation, live action, stop motion, combination... whatever, I just like films and the stories they tell. I have seen some comments though, from people who don't like the animation in Fantastic Mr. Fox. I think that's a bit sad in the sense that someone would dislike a film just because of that... but then again each to their own. I don't like watching dubbed films, so I guess that's a hang up I have. Fortunately I can just watch the subtitles... Personally though, I thought the animation looked great, the detail was incredible, that's another thing you get with a Wes Anderson film ;-)

Anyway, I really liked it and I hope you will too. I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who's not familiar with Wes Anderson or Roald Dahl. Let me know what you think of it.

8/10

Couples Retreat (2009)

I tend to go into films with low expectations. I don't like being disappointed so it's easier to just not expect very much, that way there's a better chance of being pleasantly surprised...

With Couples Retreat I wasn't pleasantly surprised. It was pretty much as I expected. A bit of seriousness, a bit of talking and a few laughs here and there... a reasonable way to spend 2 hours or so.

I suppose you can't help but think of Favreau and Vaughn's 1996 film about relationships - Swingers. The set up for this is kind of like it could be a Swingers 2... 13 years on and those young, free and single guys are married... however their relationships are getting a bit stale, things need to be shaken up, apparently. That's kind of where it leaves Swingers though. In the end this is really just an ok romantic comedy set on an amazing looking island paradise. It really does look fantastic.

The problem with this film is really that I think a lot of critics wanted it to be, for want of a better title, Swingers 2. I wanted it to be Swingers 2. I'd love to believe that Favreau (and Vaughn) are still as sharp as they were back than. In fact I do kind believe that they are. The problem is that they could never really make Swingers 2 now. Not unless they just spend their own money and make it as a pet project. They really are too famous now. Swingers 2 would never be a big blockbuster film, and any film that these guys would star in today has to be a blockbuster... otherwise it would be considered a failure. There were a few scenes in this film that I thought were really good and that were insightful, but it just didn't seem to be what they were going for overall. That was a bit frustrating though, that there was a glimmer here or there of a better film... alas it was not to be.

I don't know if Couples Retreat is going to be a blockbuster but I certainly think it's going to take in a decent amount of cash. It's not half as bad as some are making it out to be. I mean, if you take it as just a normal romantic comedy then it does try to get a bit heavy for a while. And I do think there are too many couples in it, they could have dropped one and had more time to tell more of the stories for the remaining three, but there are some good, funny scenes in it that I think a lot of people would laugh at.

It's not a classic and no-one will be talking about it in 13 years time, but if you have nothing better to see over the weekend and you just want a bit of a date movie then you could do worse.

6/10

Zombieland (2009)

The plan, on heading to the cinema for the evening, had actually been to see Pandorum... however a scheduling miscalculation meant that I missed the 6.40pm start time so had to go to Zombieland instead. And, despite being at the theatre 20 mins before Zombieland was due to start, I still managed to miss the first minute. Turns out 20 mins is not really enough time to pop down to McDonalds and get dinner... oh well. At least I got to see a film and I had been planning on seeing this one anyway so that's cool.

If you don't want to know what kind of zombies they are, skip the rest of this paragraph. If you do, they went for the fast-running plague infected zombie. It's the modern choice I guess. Personally I'm not a zombie purist or anything, I accept all zombies as they come (film zombies of course, for real zombies I have a sword by my bed).

Zombieland is billed as a horror spoof and that's pretty much all it is. It tries to distract us for a while in the middle with other, more meaningful, stuff, but to be honest you spend most of that time wondering when they're going to kill another zombie. So you may as well ignore that bit and concentrate on the horror spoof part.

As a horror spoof it's very good. Aside from that bit in the middle where they go soft on us, it is, as some people like to say, a "rollicking romp". There's blood and guts and flying words all over the place. Everything you want from a zombie flick. Well, you probably weren't expecting the flying words (I think the last time I saw flying words in a film was Day Watch in 2006) but they looked good in the context. They also have a great cameo, so that's cool as well.

The only real problem I had with it was that somewhere along the way they tried to be something more than a horror spoof. Now there's nothing wrong with trying to be a little more than that but they didn't quite pull it off. It was a little bit like they got worried that they wouldn't be taken seriously so they tried to get a smidge serious and they slightly tried to weave a little romance into it as well. It worked for Shaun of the Dead however Shaun of the Dead was exceptional, they really worked the drama into the zombie story. My recommendation on this kind of mix is that if there's a chance somewhere that it's not going to work, then don't try it. You can't just shoehorn in a little bit and hope.

Aside from that it was strong all round. Great casting, Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone seem to be two excellent up and coming actors, even if I do think there's a good chance they're going to be type cast for the next while (not into horror, just into their respective geeky boy and strong girl characters). Woody Harrelson was brilliant, great comedic actor and that cowboy hat really suits him. The plot made sense, which can be oh so lacking in some horror films. Characterisation... well, it wasn't important.

All in all, Zombieland was a fun way to spend a Sunday evening and I can recommend it if you're willing to overlook a bit of a drag in the middle. I can assure that it ends on a high.

7.5/10