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Editorial Reviews
Review
3 1/2 STARS
Director Wes Anderson's whimsical style is just as present musically as it is visually, and "Fox" is one of his finest showcases on both fronts. Anchored by tender but sprightly sketches from Alexandre Desplat, the soundtrack veers into familiar but still fruitful territory with a version of "Ol' Man River" from the Beach Boys and a few charmers from Burl Ives. In this playful mix, Jarvis Cocker's twangy banjo ditty fits right in. -- Los Angeles Times, Todd Martens, December 26, 2009
Sounding Fantastic. If the trailers for Wes Anderson's stop-motion-animation adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's book Fantastic Mr. Fox aren't enough to suggest great stuff ahead (the film opens Nov. 20), the sound track should clinch the deal. An integral component of the writer/director's movies thus far (think John Lennon's "Oh Yoko!" in Rushmore, Nick Drake's "Fly" in The Royal Tenenbaums), the collection of songs and tunes for Fantastic Mr. Fox includes such furry numbers as "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" from the Wellingtons, two from the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man," and a handful of Burl Ives incantations - yes, Burl Ives! - guaranteed to spark a Burl revival. Throw in some Art Tatum, Jarvis Cocker, and Bobby Fuller Four, plus beautiful instrumental sketches from French composer Alexandre Desplat, and you have one of the loveliest, most eccentric sound tracks to come along since - well, since Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Steven Rea, October 25, 2009
FOUR STARS
Nearly all of Wes Anderson's films have had a strong sense of childlike wonder, but Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is based on Roald Dahl's charming book, is his first film specifically for children. The movie's soundtrack manages to take nearly all of Anderson's musical fascinations -- Anglophilia, Francophilia, '60s pop and rock, and music from other gentler and/or quirkier times -- and tailor them to a younger audience. Though Anderson's films and their soundtracks have been criticized for valuing style over substance, Fantastic Mr. Fox's stylization is fitting, given that the film's characters are stop-motion animal puppets. The soundtrack's songs and Alexandre Desplat's score mix delicacy and rough-and-tumble energy while reminding listeners of what children's movies and music used to be like before being cool took precedence over everything else. While there are two songs from Anderson favorites the Beach Boys, "Heroes and Villains" and "Ol' Man River," it's Burl Ives who contributes the most songs to Fantastic Mr. Fox. Ives' grandfatherly tone made him one of the most enduring and endearing voices in children's entertainment, and the tracks that appear here ("Fooba Wooba John," "Buckeye Jim," and "The Grey Goose") dig into his pastoral folk roots. Likewise, the Wellingtons' "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" conjures instant nostalgia and childhood adventure, both of which are echoed in Desplat's score. Cues like "Jimmy Squirrel and Co." and "Boggis, Bunce, and Bean" are as twinkly and precious as previous Anderson film scores, but more rural elements like banjo and Jew's harp roughen them up enough to fit in with the soundtrack's overall folky feel. Meanwhile, "Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail (Behind a Chinese Restaurant)," "Great Harrowsford Square," and "Stunt Expo 2004" have a spaghetti Western-like air of danger and intrigue that sets the stage for the somber "Canis Lupis" and Georges Delerue's noble "Le Grand Choral." Moodier moments aside, Fantastic Mr. Fox is mostly gleeful, especially on the Bobby Fuller Four's "Let Her Dance," Jarvis Cocker's "Fantastic Mr. Fox aka Petey's Song," and the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man" -- this may be one of the only children's films where a song about "violent revolution" is actually appropriate. While this album is less about digging into Anderson's deep record collection than his other film's soundtracks have been, Fantastic Mr. Fox may be the most purely joyous one since Rushmore. -- All Music Guide, Heather Phares, October 30, 2009
Director Wes Anderson's whimsical style is just as present musically as it is visually, and "Fox" is one of his finest showcases on both fronts. Anchored by tender but sprightly sketches from Alexandre Desplat, the soundtrack veers into familiar but still fruitful territory with a version of "Ol' Man River" from the Beach Boys and a few charmers from Burl Ives. In this playful mix, Jarvis Cocker's twangy banjo ditty fits right in. -- Los Angeles Times, Todd Martens, December 26, 2009
Sounding Fantastic. If the trailers for Wes Anderson's stop-motion-animation adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's book Fantastic Mr. Fox aren't enough to suggest great stuff ahead (the film opens Nov. 20), the sound track should clinch the deal. An integral component of the writer/director's movies thus far (think John Lennon's "Oh Yoko!" in Rushmore, Nick Drake's "Fly" in The Royal Tenenbaums), the collection of songs and tunes for Fantastic Mr. Fox includes such furry numbers as "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" from the Wellingtons, two from the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man," and a handful of Burl Ives incantations - yes, Burl Ives! - guaranteed to spark a Burl revival. Throw in some Art Tatum, Jarvis Cocker, and Bobby Fuller Four, plus beautiful instrumental sketches from French composer Alexandre Desplat, and you have one of the loveliest, most eccentric sound tracks to come along since - well, since Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Steven Rea, October 25, 2009
FOUR STARS
Nearly all of Wes Anderson's films have had a strong sense of childlike wonder, but Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is based on Roald Dahl's charming book, is his first film specifically for children. The movie's soundtrack manages to take nearly all of Anderson's musical fascinations -- Anglophilia, Francophilia, '60s pop and rock, and music from other gentler and/or quirkier times -- and tailor them to a younger audience. Though Anderson's films and their soundtracks have been criticized for valuing style over substance, Fantastic Mr. Fox's stylization is fitting, given that the film's characters are stop-motion animal puppets. The soundtrack's songs and Alexandre Desplat's score mix delicacy and rough-and-tumble energy while reminding listeners of what children's movies and music used to be like before being cool took precedence over everything else. While there are two songs from Anderson favorites the Beach Boys, "Heroes and Villains" and "Ol' Man River," it's Burl Ives who contributes the most songs to Fantastic Mr. Fox. Ives' grandfatherly tone made him one of the most enduring and endearing voices in children's entertainment, and the tracks that appear here ("Fooba Wooba John," "Buckeye Jim," and "The Grey Goose") dig into his pastoral folk roots. Likewise, the Wellingtons' "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" conjures instant nostalgia and childhood adventure, both of which are echoed in Desplat's score. Cues like "Jimmy Squirrel and Co." and "Boggis, Bunce, and Bean" are as twinkly and precious as previous Anderson film scores, but more rural elements like banjo and Jew's harp roughen them up enough to fit in with the soundtrack's overall folky feel. Meanwhile, "Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail (Behind a Chinese Restaurant)," "Great Harrowsford Square," and "Stunt Expo 2004" have a spaghetti Western-like air of danger and intrigue that sets the stage for the somber "Canis Lupis" and Georges Delerue's noble "Le Grand Choral." Moodier moments aside, Fantastic Mr. Fox is mostly gleeful, especially on the Bobby Fuller Four's "Let Her Dance," Jarvis Cocker's "Fantastic Mr. Fox aka Petey's Song," and the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man" -- this may be one of the only children's films where a song about "violent revolution" is actually appropriate. While this album is less about digging into Anderson's deep record collection than his other film's soundtracks have been, Fantastic Mr. Fox may be the most purely joyous one since Rushmore. -- All Music Guide, Heather Phares, October 30, 2009
Product Description
2009 soundtrack to Wes Anderson's first animated feature, based on the beloved Roald Dahl book. Academy Award nominee Anderson is best known for his film's Rushmore, The Royal Tenebaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Fantastic Mr. Fox. makes its Atlantic-crossing aboard a magical soundtrack featuring an unforgettable score by award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat, as well as vintage Folk, Jazz, Pop and Rock tracks hand-picked by Wes Anderson and music supervisor Randall Poster. Standouts include an unreleased track by former Pulp founder and frontman, Jarvis Cocker and a classic Rolling Stones track. Also features music from The Beach Boys, Burl Ives, The Bobby Fuller Four and The Wellingtons.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Jon Broxton
Format:Audio CD
I grew up reading and loving Roald Dahl's stories; everything from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches and The Twits to The BFG, James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, his words (as well as Quentin Blake's incomparable illustrations) were an indelible part of my childhood, and remain beloved to this day. Strangely, the one Roald Dahl story I don't think I ever read was Fantastic Mr. Fox, written by Dahl in 1970 and which has now been turned into an animated feature film by directed Wes Anderson with a voice cast that includes such luminaries as George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, and Jarvis Cocker from the English rock band Pulp. The story - as is always the case with Dahl's work - is a dark morality tale dressed up as an innocent children's story. The plot concerns Mr. and Mrs. Fox, a pair of wily and cunning animals who feed their family by stealing chickens, ducks and cider from under the noses of three despicable farmers named Boggis, Bunce and Bean.
The music for Fantastic Mr. Fox is a wild amalgam of styles and influences that places songs by everyone from The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones to Burl Ives, two old Georges Delerue pieces, and a new score from French composer Alexandre Desplat, writing music for his second animated film after Le Château des Singes in 1999. In many ways, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the perfect response to those who criticize Desplat for being a one-trick pony, who can only write pretty little waltzes and clinical orchestral lines with no heart and soul. Fantastic Mr. Fox is about as zany as mainstream film music gets, and will certainly surprise those whose opinion of Desplat's is based only around his work on his more successful Hollywood scores - Lust Caution, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Painted Veil, and so on. Rather than being a restrained and romantic, Fantastic Mr. Fox is raucous and ebullient, and takes a great deal of inspiration from Ennio Morricone's more offbeat works.
Once again, the thing that stands out of Desplat's work here is the attention to detail, the orchestration, and the compositional technique. Time and again, Desplat impresses with his interesting use of unexpected instrumental combinations, and this score of no exception; the difference here, however, is the instruments themselves: rather than a traditional orchestral complement, Desplat uses banjos, guitars, fiddles, and all manner of unusual percussion to create a child-like atmosphere of fun and innocence, while rooting the film in a kind of mixed-up aural location that seems to span the American west, the Deep South, ad the English countryside. It's a very, very peculiar jumble, but one which works despite itself, mainly because of Desplat's brilliance at bringing all these elements together into an enjoyable whole.
The opening cue, "Mr. Fox in the Fields", establishes the general conventions of the score, with bouncy country rhythms, picked banjos, pizzicato strings and glockenspiels overlaying an unexpectedly lovely orchestral melody led by a cello. Later, "Boggis, Bunce and Bean" is a pompous, self-important march, while the "Jimmy Squirrel and Co." and "High-Speed French Train" feature dainty, flighty woodwind themes and elegant little chimes, while "Whack-Bat Majorette" is a perfect pastiche of a John Philip Sousa march played by a high school football band, all pomp and pageantry. This is the most un-Desplat music imaginable, filled as it is with child-like inquisitiveness, playful melodies, and a charming innocent that is immediately beguiling. Anyone with an aversion to whimsical orchestrations or scores which could be construed as being painfully cute will find themselves retching immediately upon hearing these cues, but I found them to be wonderfully appealing and a refreshing change from the seriousness Desplat's work has contained of late.
Ennio Morricone is a clear influence on "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar", which sees Desplat combining bold snare and timpani rhythms with a twanging Jew's harp, elaborate acoustic guitars, fluttering bass flutes, and even a few moments in which Desplat himself whistles in a manner that would have made Alessandro Alessandroni proud. It's not quite action music, but it's certainly uniquely dramatic, and would have been quite at home in a Sergio Leone spaghetti western, Clint Eastwood squinting into the sun, rather than scoring the kleptomaniac antics of an animated fox. This cue also features the first appearance of the Farmer's theme, albeit in a deconstructed form, that features heavily in the score's second half. The style is revisited in the wonderfully named "Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail Behind a Chinese Restaurant", albeit with a little bittersweet touch in the cue's second half, with the Farmer's theme played somberly on a glockenspiel accompanied by emotional, funereal string chords.
After a brooding opening minute, "Great Harrowsford Square" takes the thematic fragment first introduced in "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar" and finally fleshes it out into a full-fledged theme for the nefarious farmers, complete with lyrics ("Boggis, Bunce and Bean/One fat, one short, one lean/These horrible crooks/So different in looks/Were none the less equally mean") taken directly from the book and sung by a vivacious children's chorus. It's this kind of enthusiasm and expressiveness which makes this score such a delight to experience; Desplat really got into the film's character. The orchestral recapitulation of the Farmer's march, and subsequent restatement of the choral version in "Stunt Expo 2004", is simply delightful. The finale, "Canis Lupus", is an unexpectedly beautiful piece for a boy soprano of the farmer's fragmented theme, and is nothing short of sublime.
Unless you're a fan of the Beach Boys the songs are nothing to write home about, and will likely be of little interest to score fans. The two Delerue pieces are "Une Petite Île" from the 1971 film Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent, and "Le Grand Chorale" from the 1973 film La Nuit Américaine. The former is a typically lovely, slightly baroque-sounding romance theme for harpsichord and strings, while the latter is a heraldic piece clearly inspired by the non-vocal parts of Handel's coronation anthem Zadok the Priest. They actually fit in quite nicely with the stylistics of Desplat's original score, and add to the overall listening experience.
One thing which will stand in the way of many listeners to this score is its quirkiness. Fantastic Mr. Fox is not a typical film score in any way, and the orchestrations are designed to present an overall feeling of old-fashioned whimsy and mischievousness. If you don't like banjos and fiddles, if you don't like intentionally childish-sounding rhythms and bounciness, and if you never appreciated Ennio Morricone's more unusual efforts in the western genre, then this is most definitely not the score for you. However, personally - and perhaps a little predictably - I thought it was entirely wonderful, showing a completely different side to Desplat's musical personality, and showcasing his wonderful touch with an entirely different instrumental setup, as well as his theme-writing prowess. Including the two Delerue pieces, the score comprises must 24 minutes of a 46 minute album; and works best when programmed out-of-sequence apart from the songs which comprise the rest of the album.
The music for Fantastic Mr. Fox is a wild amalgam of styles and influences that places songs by everyone from The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones to Burl Ives, two old Georges Delerue pieces, and a new score from French composer Alexandre Desplat, writing music for his second animated film after Le Château des Singes in 1999. In many ways, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the perfect response to those who criticize Desplat for being a one-trick pony, who can only write pretty little waltzes and clinical orchestral lines with no heart and soul. Fantastic Mr. Fox is about as zany as mainstream film music gets, and will certainly surprise those whose opinion of Desplat's is based only around his work on his more successful Hollywood scores - Lust Caution, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Painted Veil, and so on. Rather than being a restrained and romantic, Fantastic Mr. Fox is raucous and ebullient, and takes a great deal of inspiration from Ennio Morricone's more offbeat works.
Once again, the thing that stands out of Desplat's work here is the attention to detail, the orchestration, and the compositional technique. Time and again, Desplat impresses with his interesting use of unexpected instrumental combinations, and this score of no exception; the difference here, however, is the instruments themselves: rather than a traditional orchestral complement, Desplat uses banjos, guitars, fiddles, and all manner of unusual percussion to create a child-like atmosphere of fun and innocence, while rooting the film in a kind of mixed-up aural location that seems to span the American west, the Deep South, ad the English countryside. It's a very, very peculiar jumble, but one which works despite itself, mainly because of Desplat's brilliance at bringing all these elements together into an enjoyable whole.
The opening cue, "Mr. Fox in the Fields", establishes the general conventions of the score, with bouncy country rhythms, picked banjos, pizzicato strings and glockenspiels overlaying an unexpectedly lovely orchestral melody led by a cello. Later, "Boggis, Bunce and Bean" is a pompous, self-important march, while the "Jimmy Squirrel and Co." and "High-Speed French Train" feature dainty, flighty woodwind themes and elegant little chimes, while "Whack-Bat Majorette" is a perfect pastiche of a John Philip Sousa march played by a high school football band, all pomp and pageantry. This is the most un-Desplat music imaginable, filled as it is with child-like inquisitiveness, playful melodies, and a charming innocent that is immediately beguiling. Anyone with an aversion to whimsical orchestrations or scores which could be construed as being painfully cute will find themselves retching immediately upon hearing these cues, but I found them to be wonderfully appealing and a refreshing change from the seriousness Desplat's work has contained of late.
Ennio Morricone is a clear influence on "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar", which sees Desplat combining bold snare and timpani rhythms with a twanging Jew's harp, elaborate acoustic guitars, fluttering bass flutes, and even a few moments in which Desplat himself whistles in a manner that would have made Alessandro Alessandroni proud. It's not quite action music, but it's certainly uniquely dramatic, and would have been quite at home in a Sergio Leone spaghetti western, Clint Eastwood squinting into the sun, rather than scoring the kleptomaniac antics of an animated fox. This cue also features the first appearance of the Farmer's theme, albeit in a deconstructed form, that features heavily in the score's second half. The style is revisited in the wonderfully named "Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail Behind a Chinese Restaurant", albeit with a little bittersweet touch in the cue's second half, with the Farmer's theme played somberly on a glockenspiel accompanied by emotional, funereal string chords.
After a brooding opening minute, "Great Harrowsford Square" takes the thematic fragment first introduced in "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar" and finally fleshes it out into a full-fledged theme for the nefarious farmers, complete with lyrics ("Boggis, Bunce and Bean/One fat, one short, one lean/These horrible crooks/So different in looks/Were none the less equally mean") taken directly from the book and sung by a vivacious children's chorus. It's this kind of enthusiasm and expressiveness which makes this score such a delight to experience; Desplat really got into the film's character. The orchestral recapitulation of the Farmer's march, and subsequent restatement of the choral version in "Stunt Expo 2004", is simply delightful. The finale, "Canis Lupus", is an unexpectedly beautiful piece for a boy soprano of the farmer's fragmented theme, and is nothing short of sublime.
Unless you're a fan of the Beach Boys the songs are nothing to write home about, and will likely be of little interest to score fans. The two Delerue pieces are "Une Petite Île" from the 1971 film Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent, and "Le Grand Chorale" from the 1973 film La Nuit Américaine. The former is a typically lovely, slightly baroque-sounding romance theme for harpsichord and strings, while the latter is a heraldic piece clearly inspired by the non-vocal parts of Handel's coronation anthem Zadok the Priest. They actually fit in quite nicely with the stylistics of Desplat's original score, and add to the overall listening experience.
One thing which will stand in the way of many listeners to this score is its quirkiness. Fantastic Mr. Fox is not a typical film score in any way, and the orchestrations are designed to present an overall feeling of old-fashioned whimsy and mischievousness. If you don't like banjos and fiddles, if you don't like intentionally childish-sounding rhythms and bounciness, and if you never appreciated Ennio Morricone's more unusual efforts in the western genre, then this is most definitely not the score for you. However, personally - and perhaps a little predictably - I thought it was entirely wonderful, showing a completely different side to Desplat's musical personality, and showcasing his wonderful touch with an entirely different instrumental setup, as well as his theme-writing prowess. Including the two Delerue pieces, the score comprises must 24 minutes of a 46 minute album; and works best when programmed out-of-sequence apart from the songs which comprise the rest of the album.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By S. Sagheb
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a great fan of Wes Anderson's films and the music he uses in them. This soundtrack features some very fun Burl Ives classics as well as the beautiful score by Desplat. This score sounds like something that Anderson's previous collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh would have composed but more sophisticated and orchestral. Fun, nostalgic and lovely.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase
Amazingly well done and heart-warming movie. I just Had to have the soundtrack, which helped make this movie so impressive.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
love music
I got this as a gift for my music loving daughter who loved the movie movie as well. great sounds.
Published 1 month ago by annonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Mr Desplat
*MUSIC*
Its a great film = Its a great soundtrack. Featuring the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, very Wes Andersonesque, the soundtrack features most of the great songs... Read more
Its a great film = Its a great soundtrack. Featuring the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, very Wes Andersonesque, the soundtrack features most of the great songs... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jackist
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 Year old son Dante's favorite soundtrack
My son loved this movie let alone the classic soundtrack. Goes right along with the movie. Also, I worked with handicapable people whom thought this film/ sound track THE FANTASTIC... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Zahnd
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but not as good as the movie
I absolutely loved the movie ad the music is also very pretty. Make sure you love the music because I personally do not listen to it as much as I thought I would. Read more
Published 20 months ago by lshanok
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Here, put this bandit hat on...."
When a sentimental, tearful Georges Delerue melody is followed by the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man," you know the album in question is going to be like nothing you've ever... Read more
Published 20 months ago by XNS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love It
A sparkling, whimsical gem of a score from the lovely Monsieur Desplat. One of my favorites from one of my favorites!
Published 20 months ago by BlahBlahBlah
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Great!
I loved the movie, and the music goes right along with the movie. With the short and lively, it fits the life of a mischievious fox. Read more
Published on August 13, 2010 by stargazer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Soundtrack!
This is a fabulous movie soundtrack. I think even people who haven't seen the movie will like it! It's got a delicious mix of all kinds of music. Read more
Published on May 25, 2010 by Jennifer Aszling
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never boring
After I saw the movie, I wanted to continue listening to the music, so I bought this soundtrack. The score by Alexandre Desplat is playful, joyous and nostalgic at the same time. Read more
Published on April 15, 2010 by M. Tonatiuh Moreno Ramos
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky, soft, catchy and thrilling. This score exudes excellence!
I'm going to be honest. I never actually saw the movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox" due to taking a keen interest in the said film at too late a date, (was removed from theaters at the last... Read more
Published on February 14, 2010 by D. Johnson
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