By Geoffrey Golden

American animated movies tend to think big. Our heroes set-off on a journey to explore humongous landscapes and meet other over-the-top characters, as they complete a mind-bogglingly impossible task. I’m a huge fan of animated adventure stories, but it’s nice to have some variety in the cartoon cinema. That’s why Wes Anderson’s first animated feature, Fantastic Mr. Fox (now playing theaters), was such a breath of fresh, cider-scented air.

Pixar is the current gold standard for animated films, and they lean heavily towards the big adventure story. Up is about an around-the-world journey in a hot air balloon house; The Incredibles help save the world from an evil genius; and WALL-E helps save humanity from an apocalypse of pleasure. Even in Toy Story, because the perspective of the characters is so small, a trip to Pizza Planet becomes an epic journey.

DreamWorks Animation and other studios tend to follow suit, with stories involving kingdom-saving ogres and animals trying to survive the ice age. Big stories, even bigger set pieces and enormous characters voiced by comedy legends. When a formula works, there’s little reason for Hollywood to stray.

That being said, there are some mainstream animated movies with a smaller, more intimate feel. Opening Thanksgiving weekend is Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) children’s book of the same name. The film is a heist comedy, about a chicken thief who promised his pregnant wife he was retired for good, but who decides to pull one last score in his new neighborhood. Though it incorporates quite a few action sequences, Mr. Fox retains a surprisingly personal feel.

In many recent animated movies, we’re introduced to our characters, and then when the plot begins, it feels like the characters ride through the story, not unlike a roller-coaster. The characters make a key decision — to embark on an epic journey — and the result of that one decision carries them forward. Though Mr. Fox and his friends get into deeper and deeper trouble as the story unfolds, we understand that their worsening predicament is based on a series of important character-motivated decisions (specifically, Fox’s need to impress his family and friends). This makes the events along Fox’s journey feel more organic to the character.

The set and character design also create a smaller-seeming universe. Every element is meticulously detailed and — for lack of a better word — cute. Fox and his friends have soft, furry faces. The trees and buildings are idyllic and quaint. Sometimes it feels like you’re watching figurines in a play set. Of course, along those lines, it’s possible that stop-motion animation of real life models provides an inherently warmer feel than computer generated images, although a short like Geri’s Game challenges that assumption.

The voice acting is another factor in the film’s relatively modest approach. Fans of Wes Anderson expect low-key, subtle characterizations in his films. Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Bill Murray all deliver laughs with droll, dry performances. There are a handful of funny, traditionally “cartoony” gags, like a scene in which Mr. Fox tries to scale an electric fence. However, you won’t find any mugging or pop culture reference-flinging here.

Perhaps the biggest factor in maintaining an intimate feel is that Mr. Fox is the artistic vision of a director, not a studio. The off-center camera angles, understated performances and the underlying theme of a father disappointing his son are all trademark Wes Anderson. Animated movies aren’t usually helmed by an auteur. In fact, many cartoon features have multiple directors, not to mention key creative input from the studio’s producers, executives and others. By no means am I choosing sides, saying one method is better than another. The studio method clearly works — again, I’m thinking of Pixar as the model for doing it right. However, it’s terrific to see an animated film that’s uniquely stylized and personal, in the way that a movie with a single, guiding creative visionary can be.

I was trying to think of other recent, widely-released animated films that have this level of individual personality. The one that comes to mind is Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, another small-feeling, stop-motion animated comedy. Corpse Bride‘s story is a character-driven farce about romantic mix-ups, rather than an animated thrill ride. The characters and backgrounds are carefully constructed, not larger than life. Also, both Corpse Bride and Fantastic Mr. Fox are creatively driven by a director’s vision (though Corpse Bride actually had two directors, Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, the film clearly emerged from Burton’s trademark, twisted imagination). When you think of Corpse Bride and Fantastic Mr. Fox, as opposed to Finding Nemo and Shrek, the stylistic differences are apparent.

So while I look forward to more CG animated, studio created journey films, the personal feel of stop-motion, director driven cartoons is a welcome addition to my local movie theater (I’d also welcome more 2D animation in general, but that’s a discussion for a whole other article). After all, variety in animation is a ‘fantastic’ thing.