Francis Whitman (Owen Wilson), Peter Whitman (Adrien Brody), and Jack Whitman (Jason Schwartzman) are three brothers who haven't seen each other since attending their father's funeral a year ago, but decide to reunite for some good old-fashioned sibling bonding on a trip through India aboard a train called "The Darjeeling Limited." None of them seem to have much in common and all of them distrust each other, with Francis keen on preventing his brothers from finding out the true purpose of this little excursion, Peter unwilling to tell his brothers that his wife is now seven months pregnant with their first child, and Jack frequently slipping away from the company of his brothers in order to check the answering machine of his beloved ex-girlfriend. Taking advantage of each of the train's stops, Francis insists that he and his brothers visit various temples and markets in hopes of achieving some type of spiritual healing, but their attempts are half-hearted and it isn't long before they're at each other's throats, bickering and fighting like children. Once they're thrown off the train and Francis reveals his true intentions for the trip, the brothers are forced to get along as they trek across India in search of the one woman who connects them all --- their mother.
I had heard mixed responses to THE DARJEELING LIMITED and went in with low expectations, which made it all the more shocking when I ended up loving it. When I think about what made this movie work so well, I find myself smiling and laughing at the relationship between the three brothers, because it is so pitch perfect and believable that you buy into it from the beginning, even though the three actors look nothing alike. But I think the lack of resemblance between the siblings plays an important role in signifying how different they are from each other and the idea that these men would never have been in the same room together if not for the common blood that runs through their veins. It's obvious that Wes Anderson likes to play around with dysfunctional families and force them into situations that bring their flaws out into the open, and here he examines the concept of brotherhood and what it is that keeps these grown men together even in the face of constant friction, tension, and conflict between them. They scour India in search of an artificial or mystical answer for their problems in life, blind to the fact that what they need is to challenge each other and say what no one else will, rather than keeping each other at a distance.
THE DARJEELING LIMITED is about the complicated nature of brotherhood and how to find strength through your differences instead of letting them push you apart, and the three leads will keep you engaged until the end with their touching and often hilarious portrayals of three disconnected brothers who are lost both physically and emotionally in life.
Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a former bandit forced to give up his thieving ways when his wife Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep) becomes pregnant with their son Ash Fox (Jason Schwartzman), prompting Mr. Fox to settle down as a newspaper columnist. But after twelve years of living in a hole with little excitement in his life, Mr. Fox decides to uproot his family to a more lavish home in a tree neighboring the farms of Walter Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Nathan Bunce (Hugo Guinness), and Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon). Recruiting the superintendent Kylie Sven Oposum (Wallace Wolodarsky) as his accomplice, Mr. Fox sets out to rob these three farmers during the night, stealing chickens from Boggis, duck and geese from Bunce, and turkey, apples, and apple cider from Bean, despite making a promise to Felicity that he would never resort to a life of crime again. It all comes crashing down, literally, when the three farmers decide to take action against him for stealing from them and attempt to hunt him down and kill him, destroying his home and forcing Mr. Fox and his family to burrow underground in a desperate attempt to escape certain death.
FANTASTIC MR. FOX is adapted from the children's novel of the same name from author Roald Dahl and was filmed using stop-motion animation, making this the first non-live action film from Wes Anderson. I haven't seen a lot of stop-motion animated films, largely because it is such a long and painstaking process that most filmmakers avoid it in favor of more modern techniques, but I have a hard time imagining anyone more suited for it than Anderson. As a director with a keen eye for detail, this type of animation is perfect for him because it allows him to construct everything from scratch, rather than having to build off of existing areas for some of the more impractical shots, and ensure every minute aspect is as he imagined it. I have nothing against the more mainstream techniques of animation, but there is something about stop-motion that makes it feel so much more three-dimensional and life-like, and in FANTASTIC MR. FOX it seamlessly transports you to this world where talking animals and three cutthroat old codgers can co-exist without it being questioned at all. As per usual, Anderson also assembles a winning cast, with George Clooney and Meryl Streep commanding the audience's undivided attention as a husband trying to re-claim the life he once had and a wife trying to get him to appreciate the one he has now, respectively.
FANTASTIC MR. FOX is the family film that Wes Anderson has been working towards for years now, in that it deals with all of the same themes you see running through THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and his other films, but does so in a film truly tailored for an audience of families. This film is imaginative, quirky, hilarious, and heartwarming, and you'd be remiss not to give it your time.
NOTE: This should've been posted on Friday, but was not, due to a technical error on my part. I apologize for the mistake, and I hope to have my Final Thoughts on Wes Anderson posted either later today or on Sunday. Thanks for reading!
