Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” is clearly going to be one of the most divisive films of the year. The director has always had both dedicated fans, and dedicated haters (for the record, this writer can even find nice things to say about “The Life Aquatic,” although “The Darjeeling Limited?” Not so much…), but when combined with a somewhat archaic animation style that’s set comment boards on fire across the Internet, you’ve got something that’s going to split people down the middle.
But it’s hard to argue that the trailer that premiered today at Apple is the most successful so far for the film. With a less frantic rhythm that the original version, the jokes are given some room to breathe, and the performances, which initially sounded a little stilted, seem to have a little more life to them. The production design is gorgeous as well – if nothing else, this looks to be a film that demands to be seen on a big screen, just to pick up some of the details. We’re seeing the film two weeks from today, at the opening night of the London Film Festival, so we’ll be giving you the first verdict shortly afterwards. You can see an embed of the trailer below, or head over to Apple to see it in shiny HD.
I've pretty much established myself in the pro-Fox camp, yet I'm pretty much at peace with the majority of folks who are going to hate this thing ("is it for kids? or is it for hipster d-bags? I don't get it!")
I mostly agree this trailer is probably more appealing to those who didn't find magic in the first one. I have to say though, the voiceover and whore quotes absolutely suck.
It's taking something that, for better or for worse, is a unique artistic vision and trying to convince people that it's just like every other shitty kids' movie to slither down the sewer pipe. That's not only unfortunate, it's probably also a complete lie.
Oh well. Trailers are for suckers anyway.
@Craig Kennedy ""is it for kids? or is it for hipster d-bags? I don't get it!""
I think this trailer establishes two thing that I can reinforce having seen the film, a.) it's not really for kids; b.) it's for critics more than anything, because your average adult in the audience will be wondering why George and Meryl are hyper-literate talking foxes.
Critics will probably eat this up, with the retro feel and, uh, the hyper-literate dialogue. Hence all them crit quotes.
And "hipster d-bags" will probably eat it up as well I guess. Which is fine, it's an OK film.
This is surprisingly, well, uh, decent.