Meaning at the Movies | Freedom, faith and fun in “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

To love a film is both a gentle and all-consuming thing — it washes over you, filling you with joy and interest, but also a kind of peace, a slice of feeling like you’ve been truly understood. To love a film as generous and beautiful as “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is a special kind of thing. Few films instantly bring a smile to my face and a warmness to my soul as easily as “Fantastic Mr. Fox”. 

The film centers on the anthropomorphic Mr. Fox, who gets bored with his life as a newspaperman and returns to his life of crime to plan a heist against three local farmers. The farmers, tired of the fox stealing from them, retaliate against him and his entire family. 

The story also features Mrs. Fox navigating her emotions about Mr. Fox’s new dreams. Their son, Ash, is also trying to find his place in the world while navigating his cousin, Kristofferson, moving in with his family. Packed within a movie about stealing from evil farmers is also a moving story about finding one’s place — within a family, within a relationship and within the world.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox”, like many of Wes Anderson’s films, seems on its surface to be one thing, a heist film, while actually being completely another, a deeply moving family drama. With this movie in particular, there is an added level of care and connection as the gorgeous film was painstakingly stop-motion animated, and many of the voice recordings were done in nature. Every single frame, word and moment is so painstakingly crafted to produce such a rich and endearing film. 

Everytime I watch this movie, I’m struck by something new. The first time, it was Mr. Fox himself. I was captivated by the way he could be both mischievous and caring, sly but also so full of love, even if it was at times misguided. When the film begins, Mr. Fox is discontented with his life. He wants to break out of mundanity and into something new. Yet, in doing so, Mr. Fox risks the safety of his entire family and all of their friends, eventually losing their new home that he had so longed for. 

However, when the film ends, there he stands, in the grocery store, surrounded by his family, having found a new way of living that isn’t quite what he expected. In this scene, Mr. Fox comes to terms with the fact that he can find so much of what he needs within his family. This is the beating heart of the film, and he only discovers this fact because he goes on an adventure, with his life shaken up and changed. There is space within the film for both the understanding that family matters most and that one doesn’t have to stop dreaming, but those dreams may just look much different than expected.

The second time I watched the film, I was particularly struck by Kristofferson. Kristofferson is Mr. and Mrs. Fox’s nephew who arrives in their home after his father develops double pneumonia. For much of the film, Kristofferson clashes with the Fox’s son, Ash. Kristofferson is more agile and easygoing than Ash. He has an easier time fitting in and being the vision of “boy” that Mr. Fox always imagined in a son. However, there’s also an underlying sadness to his character. He arrives in a home he doesn’t really know and isn’t fully welcomed by the person he hoped to be closest to, Ash. Even though Kristofferson “fits in” much more easily than Ash, he is still looking for that same love and acceptance, and I think that’s both really heartbreaking and really beautiful.

Most recently when I watched “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, I was captivated by Ash and Mrs. Fox. Ash just doesn’t “fit in.” He’s different and peculiar, he struggles to make friends, he can be angry and cruel, he says the wrong thing more often than not. But at his core, he’s a lost little kid who just desperately wants to be loved and accepted for who he is. In the end, Ash is accepted, and celebrated, in large part because of his mother, Mrs. Fox. She takes the time to tell him that being different is okay, to celebrate and praise who he is, with all his quirks, and eventually the other characters come to see this too. 

Mrs. Fox is a source of quiet strength and courage within the film. From her storm paintings to the ways in which she calls Mr. Fox out, she stands up for what she cares about and what she believes is best for her family. It is clear that she fiercely loves her husband, but also that she will do anything to save her family from ruin, especially at his hand. In the end, Mr. and Mrs. Fox reconcile as they find a way through the turmoil and towards what is best for the family. 

On every watch, one thing has been consistent — the last scene is my favorite. At the end of the film, Mr. Fox brings his entire family up into the supermarket he has dug into, effectively finding a new source of loot and adventure for them. In this same scene, Mrs. Fox announces that she’s pregnant again, and Mr. Fox delivers his final speech saying, “I guess my point is …  

we’ll eat tonight, and we’ll eat together, and even in this not particularly flattering light, you are, without a doubt, the five-and-a-half most wonderful wild animals I’ve ever met in my life.”

Then, the entire family dances through the store as “Let Her Dance” by the Bobby Fuller Four plays. This moment is the embodiment of every ounce of love, kindness, sweetness and charm that flows throughout the entire film. It’s about a family coming together, in their new kind of world and finding solace and hope in who they are. At the end of the day, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is like a great big warm hug, a reminder that love is always around that’s worthy dancing for.