While I was as partial to the works of Roald Dahl as any kid is, I must admit my more obsessive loyalties tended to lie with the venerable back-catalogue of Enid Blyton. Evidently I enjoyed my child-like whimsy with a healthy subtext of Aryan super-race (the phrase “black as a nigger with soot” really takes some of the gloss off of the otherwise charming tale Five Go off to Camp). But my racist childhood notwithstanding (ha, just kidding, I love all those thieving foreigners), this definitely falls into my “how the hell did I miss this?!” basket. Wes Anderson (who I love) is writing and directing an animated adaptation of The Fantastic Mr Fox (which I am moderately disposed to), starring George Clooney (who I love), Bill Murray (who I love), Jason Schwartzman (who’s pretty cool), Adrian Brody (who I have a definite soft spot for), Meryl Streep (who is pretty great), Anjelica Huston (you’ll always be Morticia to me Anjelica), Owen Wilson (who had more cred before he starred in Marley & Me), Jarvis Cocker (who will hopefully be performing a thoroughly appropriate rendition of ‘This Is Hardcore’) and Mario Batali (who I have never heard of before and have included in this list for no particular reason). Here’s the preview:
As someone has pointed out, the general combination of voice and plot does give one the impression this could easily be called ‘Fox’s 11′. But it’s Wes Anderson, so I’m sure it’ll be amazing. Unlike Ocean’s 11. Or 12. Or 13. Yeah, that was all just a bit crap in general, wasn’t it?
/Luke
9 responses so far ↓
1 Aqualec // Jul 31, 2009 at 11:57 am
Added to my watch list. I love how some of the stories i read as a kid are being made into movies by directors i like. More, more i tell you!
2 Rach // Jul 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm
That is the best thing I have ever, ever heard.
3 Destructor // Jul 31, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Ha! That very edition of the three golliwogs was my favourite book, EVER, when I was a kid. Until I found out, y’know, that it was terribly, terribly racist. This was suprisingly, embarassingly late in my education.
You know what I think they should do, and sometimes fantasize about? They should take the Mike Batt musical of ‘The Hunting of the Snark’, just take the soundtrack, don’t change it one iota, just take the original musical from the eighties, leave Roger Daltry, Art Garfunkel, John Hurt, Julian Lennon, Cliff Richard and the London Symphony Orchestra alone, just leave the audio exactly as it is, and make a CGI movie to play along with it. Just make a visual accompaniment to the soundtrack, show us the animated characters singing along to those songs. The voicework is done, it’s perfect. Just make it into the awesomest film of all time.
4 Metrac // Jul 31, 2009 at 2:06 pm
That looks great! I will certainly see that.
5 dan // Jul 31, 2009 at 2:07 pm
http://www.deepmysterymania.biz-web.jp/CristiePhoto/TenNiggers.jpg
6 Willian! // Jul 31, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I heard about this a month ago, and was absolutely psyched!
Now that I have seen the trailer, I am left feeling slightly disappointed, I loved that book, the movie doesn’t look like it will do the book justice. Part of my disappointment comes from the fact that it is not British. <..>
7 luke // Jul 31, 2009 at 4:28 pm
@Willian! I must say, the preview itself wasn’t great (it made it look horrifically Hollywood), but I have faith that the film itself will be much better… it has to be. It just has to be.
8 Taylor // Aug 1, 2009 at 12:55 am
Wait, so is Mario Batali actually in this? Sorry, I’m actually a Foodie enough to know who he is…Google him, kinda scary, big bloated redheaded Italian chef who loves those obnoxious rubber clogs.
Anyway, I feel like the animation just trips me out here…I have become so used to the hyper-detailed CG work these days that something that looks a couple steps below Wallace & Gromit and maybe a step above the Ray Harryhausen lesson in stop-motion animation in film school is just bizarre!
9 Anon // Aug 3, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Well @Willian, cheer up, there’s one Brit guy there (Jarvis Crocker) to lessen your dissapointment. Though no word if he would appear as himself, as you know the guy is pretty much animated in person.
@Taylor, yes Mario is still being considered to be in the final cast, and here’s his animation:
http://galleryoftheabsurd.typepad.com/14/images/2008/07/29/batili2.jpg
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