Fantastic Mr. Fox

When I found out that one of my favorite directors had made an animated version of the children's story Fantastic Mr. Fox a couple years back, I was intrigued to say the least. After watching this film for the third time recently, I must say it is one of my all-time favorites. Fortunately the kids like it too, so it’s one of those rare films that our whole family can happily watch again and again… and undoubtedly again!

Director Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, etc.) applies his signature style and sensibility in this re-telling of the classic tale by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach). The stop-motion animation has a crafty, hand-made look to it, and features Anderson’s visual aesthetic—each shot is artfully composed, uncluttered, but with clever attention to small details.

The soundtrack is also reminiscent of Anderson’s other films, a mix of classic rock (Rolling Stones, Beach Boys) along with some wonderful Burl Ives songs and quirky—often hilarious—original compositions. And Anderson employs several regulars from his previous films, including Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray—so there's much to please diehard Wes Anderson fans.

The film stars George Clooney in the title role and Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox. A newspaper columnist and reformed chicken thief, Mr. Fox presents a complicated character. Upwardly mobile, he wants to provide the best for his wife and son, Ash, a discontented, underachieving high school student. A real estate agent sells him a home in a tree, a considerable step up from a fox’s hole in the ground, and from there, the problems begin.

From their new abode, the Fox family has a clear view of three local farms owned respectively by Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Remembering the excitement of his past life, Mr. Fox enlists an opossum friend to help him steal some chickens from one of the farms. This “one last big job” quickly turns into a triple-header as Fox can't resist hitting up all three farms.

Meanwhile, the Foxes' nephew, Kristofferson, comes to stay with the family. Unlike Ash, Kristofferson excels at sports, knows martial arts, and exudes a calm coolness. From day one, the misfit Ash resents his cousin, and the tension mounts.

Ultimately, Mr. Fox’s greed and secrecy put his family, and the entire animal community, at risk. There are some tense chase scenes, which are all peppered with enough humor to keep them from being really scary. There are also personal conflicts to be ironed out—between kids, between husband and wife, and between neighbors—along with some existential soul searching that should ring familiar to many hitting the middle years of life. 

All in all, there’s a lot packed into this beautifully crafted film about a bunch of cute animals, and a lot to appeal to grown-ups and kids alike. We highly recommend!

Dolphin Tale

I am a sucker for animal movies, so when I saw a trailer for Dolphin Tale, and found my eyes misting at the very idea of it, I knew this was one I needed to see with the kids. So we went last week, actually making it to the theater on the last day it screened.

While a 3-D version was released, we went for the 2-D version since we had three-year-old George along. He has only been to a movie theater once before, and the dark room and hugeness of the screen are stimulation aplenty for him. While the film is rated PG, I have to say I highly recommend it for all kids, even the young ones. In fact, I wonder why it was rated PG? I really didn’t see anything scary, sexy or troubling about it for young audiences. Go figure.

Dolphin Tale falls in the category of Hollywood inspirational tearjerker, a departure from some of the more artsy stuff I’ve been reviewing here. Despite being somewhat formulaic, I think the film was well done, with good acting and a plotline that definitely held all of our attention.

Dolphin Tale tells the story of a boy named Sawyer who comes upon a beached dolphin entangled in a crab trap. While waiting for a rescue team from a local aquarium to arrive, he develops a bond with the injured animal. Later he sneaks into the aquarium to check on his new friend, only to learn that the dolphin, named Winter by a girl whose Dad (Harry Connick, Jr.) runs the operation, won’t take food and is giving up. When Winter sees and hears Sawyer, however, she miraculously perks up, and so the boy becomes part of her rehabilitation.

It turns out that Winter also has a therapeutic effect on Sawyer—a picked-on loner who is failing school and spends his time tinkering in the garage workshop of his father, who has recently run off on the family. Sawyer’s loneliness is compounded by another loss—his beloved older cousin, a champion high school swimmer, has just been deployed to the Middle East. Tending to the injured dolphin, and developing a friendship with Hazel, the girl at the aquarium, Sawyer starts to become a happy and engaged child, a change noted by his supportive mother (Ashley Judd).

Along the way, some suspenseful plot twists arise. First, Winter’s tail becomes infected and must be amputated, possibly endangering her life. She survives and learns to swim tail-less, but it soon becomes obvious that the side-to-side motion she has adopted is going to destroy her spine, and ultimately end her life. About this time, Sawyer’s cousin returns home after a bomb blast partially paralyzes him. During a VA hospital visit, Sawyer meets a prosthetics specialist (Morgan Freeman) and enlists him in making a tail for Winter. However, the dolphin rejects the first two prosthetic devices, and it starts to seem as if all is lost. Then, there’s a hurricane! And the aquarium is up against financial ruin!

For the kids, Pearl and her friend Sasha (both six) and George (three), all of these setbacks definitely held their attention. The film shows that success doesn’t always come easily, and underscores that persistence and hard work can turn things around. It shows that grown-ups don’t always have the answers, and that with fresh minds and lots of energy, children can make a difference—a great message for kids to hear.

Talking with them about the plot, I realized afterwards that none of the kids understood that Sawyers’s cousin had been in a war, which I suppose was handled somewhat subtly. I think they also didn’t catch that Sawyer’s dad had disappeared, or that Hazel’s mom had passed away—all things alluded to in conversations between adults. I think this is fine. Ultimately what captured their hearts and attention were the friendship between Sawyer and Winter, and the story of kind humans working hard to help an injured animal—themes that I think most kids will embrace.

As for me, I was seriously choking back the tears on several occasions, but as I said in the beginning, I am a sucker for this stuff!

The Black Stallion

Riding on the heels (hooves?) of White Mane, I really wanted the kids to see a favorite horse movie from my own childhood, The Black Stallion. Released in 1979, the film is based on Walter Farley’s classic book series of the same name. Legendary film critic Pauline Kael once said, The Black Stallion “may be the greatest children's movie ever made.” And while such claims are always arguable, one can’t deny this movie is stunningly beautiful, well acted, and truly captivating.

Set in 1946, the story begins on a cruise ship sailing off the coast of North Africa. Wandering the ship at night while his father plays cards, a young passenger named Alec discovers a black horse onboard in a makeshift stable. The horse bucks and fights against his rope restraints, held by a group of shouting men. Alec later brings the horse some sugar cubes, pushing them through a small window. The men are gone, and the wild horse gently takes Alec’s offering.

Later that evening, Alec and his father are awakened when the ship begins to pitch and fill with water. A fire breaks out onboard, and in the chaos Alec cuts the horse free from its restraints, the horse jumps overboard, and Alec himself is thrown from the ship. Struggling in the dark waters, illuminated by the raging fire, Alec grabs on to the horse’s ropes, while in the background the burning ship goes down.

This was definitely a frightening scene for the kids, especially when Alec becomes separated from his father, who is trying to help him to safety, but also feels compelled to help put out the fire. Some may find the opening scenes too scary for their kids, in which case you can always fast forward.

We watched the whole scene, and to me the most disturbing part was when one of the men who had been restraining the horse violently snatches Alec’s life vest from him—a true “bad guy” move. Also problematic about this scene: The guy is Arab, wears a turban, and I am sensitive to the kids’ exposure to portrayals of people of different races or cultures as evil. Note to self: Find positive portrayals of Arab people in other films.

In the end, Alec and the horse are the only survivors from the ship, and both end up on a deserted island. So begins the best part of this film, and what I most remember from watching it as a child over 30 years ago. Alec must contend with the loss of his father, his aloneness, and his need to survive in a completely foreign environment. Wandering the island, he discovers the stallion caught up in its own ropes among rocks. Alec again frees the stallion and it runs off. The scenes that follow show Alec’s patient, clever, and gentle efforts to tame the stallion, set against the stunning natural backdrop of the island.

As Alec is alone, there is no dialogue for a long section of the film, and compared to many children’s films, the pacing is slow—beautifully slow. The cinematography during the island scenes is gorgeous, with very memorable scenes of Alec and the stallion running together along the beach, and one especially exciting scene where the stallion rescues Alec from a deadly cobra.

Finally, Alec is rescued by some fishermen and insists that the horse come with him. He returns home to his mother in the U.S., and another chapter begins as he befriends a retired jockey (Mickey Rooney), who trains Alec and his horse (whom he names “The Black”) to race. The second half of the film, while also shot and acted with skill, unfolds with a fairly predictable story, a highly implausible race in which the young boy, in a mask, rides “the mystery horse” and (you guessed it) wins!

I found my attention waning, but the kids were enthralled. I don’t think either of them had ever seen a horse race, even on TV, so this was very exciting to them, as was the idea of young Alec working hard and training to compete with far more experienced adults.

But most importantly, as in White Mane, the friendship between boy and horse in The Black Stallion is well developed and offers a touching and compelling story that I imagine all kids would enjoy and relate to.

In fact, I’d better watch out with the horse movies, or requests for riding lessons may be in our future!

White Mane (Crin Blanc)

First up in our exploration of classic children’s cinema: White Mane. Directed by Albert Lamorisse, this acclaimed 1952 black and white, French language film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and has been revered as a classic of French cinema. It is available as part of the Criterion Collection.

All this means nothing to the kids, though. As the opening credits rolled, my six-year-old daughter, in her new going-on-thirteen voice, demanded, “Is it ALL in black and white? Is it going to be BORING?” Just watch, just watch and see, I said.

In no time at all, she and her almost three-year-old brother and seven-year-old friend were completely engrossed. The film is in French, so I read the subtitles out loud. Dialogue and narration are both sparse, so this wasn’t an issue. As for black and white and boring, also not an issue. The film has lots of intrigue and action and at times is even quite tense.

The story takes place in the south of France, in a stark but beautiful landscape of marshland, in a region called the Camargue. There, a magnificent stallion, White Mane, leads a herd of wild horses who roam the land, evading capture by a dogged group of ranchers on horseback.

Nearby, a boy named Folco lives in an isolated shack with his grandfather and baby brother. Folco identified in the narration as “the young fisherman” is shown alone on his skiff, fishing and making his way across the marsh. 

My kids were intrigued by the idea of a young boy so independent and with real responsibilities. In one scene, Folco arrives home to his shack and brings his little brother a turtle, and in another he captures a rabbit and cooks it over an open fire. These documentary-like scenes of the boy’s everyday life definitely piqued my kids’ interest. Then of course there are the many beautifully shot scenes of wild horses—what kid would not love these?

Ultimately, the ranchers fail to break White Mane and young Folco befriends and tames the stallion through sheer determination and a healthy dose of kindness. However, beyond the touching bond between boy and horse, the film delves into darker territory, showing that adults can be cruel, deceptive, and ruthless in their pursuits. We were all on edge through several scenes as the marauding men on horseback chased White Mane, even setting a raging grass fire to drive him out. In one scene, White Mane and a rival stallion engage in a violent and very real fight, kicking and biting each other bloody. In this scene, the black and white film is a particular blessing.

The darkest moment, though, is the ending, in which (spoiler alert!) the men chase Folco and White Mane to a point where a river meets the ocean, and the two are swept out to sea, presumably to their deaths. I was shocked at this seemingly pessimistic ending to a children’s film. Yet, at the same time, the final scene was poetic, and the kids were far less bothered by it than I was. The narrator states that White Mane took Folco to a far-away land where men and horses could live as friends, and the kids took this information literally. To a child, who lives in a world of fantasy, the ending could be seen as magical and comforting. The adult viewer, however, will more likely feel the deeper emotional impact of watching a boy and his horse being swallowed by crashing waves. That is part of the genius of this film.

Our final take: The kids and I really, really liked White Mane, and it gave us much to talk about, raising questions around wild horses and the boy’s lifestyle, as well as more philosophical concerns about what propels men to pursue the unattainable, and why they need to “break” a wild animal. Ultimately this film is a true work of art, and I look forward to watching Albert Lamorisse’s other children’s classic of the same era, The Red Balloon, very soon. More on that another day…