Fantasic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox, the movie.

I know that I’m late to the party with this, but I just caught this movie on Netflix. The movie was based upon a childrens novel by Roald Dahl.

Good cartoons will have a simple story, loveable characters, a clear protagonist, and will have a captivating storyline that adults can enjoy the deeper struggles and themes of the movie that children might not yet fully grasp. UP! is an excellent example of such a film. Too often cartoon movies fall into either side of the ditch. They are either so childish and moronic that there is no story, but goofball antics and silliness, good for kids, bad for me and Momma on movie night. The other extreme is jokes that are over the child’s head, not because the child might not grasp the greater moral dilemma presented, but because the crude locker-room humor is lost on a young child, as well it should be. I think Dreamworks films are notorious for this.

Somehow, someway, Fantastic Mr. Fox seems to have fallen on all three categories at the same time. The storyline is very simple and captivating from the start. I loved the stop action animation and it was a nice change of pace from CGI. Big stars with recognizable voices can take away from the movie, especially if they have a recognizable voice, but George Clooney did a great job as Mr. Fox. I couldn’t decide whether the movie was intended for children or hipster college kids who have finished a semester of philosophy; my guess, the latter. But, at the same time the absurdity of much of the movie is endearing to children. As far as the language, coarseness of the dialoged was unnecessary. Replacing expletives with the word “cuss” isn’t very clever, especially when the vulgarity is unambiguous.
The theme of the movie is my biggest problem. Mr. Fox sums up the theme for us. After suffering a midlife crisis, Mr. Fox is unhappy with his life. He has promised his wife that he would no longer steal chickens after a near death experience caught in a fox trap and learning that she was pregnant. Mr. Fox, feeling unfulfilled and unhappy says:

“Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I'm saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you'll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?”

The existentialism philosophy runs through the whole movie. Mr. Fox defined his life and his happiness by what he does and what he wants. By not being able to steal and lie and do all the things that are natural to him, he questions his purpose. When asked how he could lie to his wife he says “I’m a wild animal.” The philosophy of the movie teaches that we define what is right and wrong for us, we define truth and our existence and how we exist define who we are. When Mr. Fox had found a way to steal and be deceptive for the good of others, he was happy again, thus his life had meaning, for him. There was no redemption, only a shifting of the moral standard. Though the “evil corporations” to whom Mr. Fox was stealing their wares, were pouring out a ridiculous amount of wrath upon the animals to try and kill the fox, and had become obsessed with their vengeance; but they had every right to try and kill the fox. The enemy in the film is the enemy for protecting their property and the hero is the hero for saying that the end justifies the means. Class warfare at its most basic, yet so devilishly subtle, you almost miss it; because you need an antagonist. The only reason that farmers were hated was because they were rich. Rich = bad, poor = good; unless of course you are a filmmaker or actor, then it’s OK to be rich.

Without God and Jesus Christ, there is no meaning in life. Why a fox? Because God made him a fox. Why are you who you are? Because God made you who you are, and you were made to glorify God, not yourself. The emptiness Mr. Fox felt was because he was the center of his universe, and if you are the center of your universe, then you must do all that you can to make yourself happy. He could not be happy unless he was doing what he wanted to do, steal chickens. Doesn’t matter if that was right or wrong to steal, he wanted to, it was in his nature to, so in order to be happy, he had to fulfill all the desires of his heart, despite the consequences it had on anyone else. When confronted on this very issue, the answer was that he couldn’t help it, it was in his nature. Mr. Fox, in his atheistic, humanistic existentialism had ironically made himself a god who determines right and wrong for himself, while at the same time condemning others for being evil and unjust for living by the same rules.

Who am I, why am I here? The Bible tells us. We are here to glorify God, yet we have sinned and come short of God’s glory. Who am I? A sinner. God provided a way of Salvation and reconciliation in His Son, Jesus Christ, dying for our sins and giving us life. We have a reason to live, for His glory, we see the purpose of life, we see that life is not only about our existence and we are not the center of the universe, there is a right and a wrong, good and bad but we are not the judge of that, God is. The Bible shows us that in whatever state we are in, we can rejoice and be content because life is more that the possessions we have and the situation we are in because God is the center of all things.

I thought of the book of Ecclesiastes in light of this film. King Solomon and tried the existentialist lifestyle and provided himself with every possible pleasure and every possible way of happiness, but was left at the end depressed and unfulfilled. There is no true joy, happiness or fulfillment outside of God, in Christ Jesus. Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Long story short; the movie has a dangerous anti-christian worldview. I do not recommend it.


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Douglas Newell IV