There was a thought at one point that Fantastic Mr. Fox might sneak in an steal the Oscar away from Pixar, who eventually grabbed yet another trophy for Up. Now you can get the film on DVD and see for yourself. Here’s the DVD trailer:

Back in November, the Lineboil audience was nearly perfect in selecting the Oscar nominations, getting 4 or 5 correct. For Best Animated Feature Film, you chose Ponyo, as opposed to Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson’s stop-motion feature, which ended up snagging the nomination instead. Up stands out from the bunch, taking a total of 5 nominations, including Original Screenplay and a Best Picture nod. It’s only the second time an animated feature has been mentioned amongst the live-action films in this category (Beuaty and the Beast). Not to diminish this achievement, but BATB did it when only 5 films were nominated, while this year its 10. That said, I’d argue that if there were still 5 slots, Up would likely be amongst them. After all, it was the best-reviewed widely-released film of 2009, animated or not.

The other interesting development here is that a pair of 2D features (The Princess and the Frog and The Secret of Kells) were included. Only Persepolis (2007) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2005) had cracked this category in the past 5 years, while the onslaught of CG features basked in the limelight. Kells pulled off perhaps the biggest win by getting a nomination, as the film had such a small release in the US.

Here’s the nominations (5 this year, while previous years there were only 3):

• Coraline (Focus Features), Henry Selick
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox), Wes Anderson
• The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
• The Secret of Kells (GKIDS), Tomm Moore
• Up (Disney/Pixar), Pete Docter

 
Congrats to all of the teams involved!

While critical darling UP took home the Best Animated Feature prize at this year’s National Board of Review awards, the stop-motion feature Fantastic Mr. Fox was awarded the Special Filmmaking Achievement. In accepting the award, director Wes Anderson did something altogether unique – he animated his speech.

To produce Wes Anderson’s stop-motion feature Fantastic Mr. Fox, a total of 29 film units were going at once at 3 Mills Studio in London. They used Stage C, where much of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride was filmed. Animators on the film brought with them years of experience on other stop-motion features. Daniel Alderson worked on $9.99, Andy Biddle animated on Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and artists Brian Leif Hansen, Malcolm Lamont, Jens Jonathan Gulliksen, Anthony Farquhar-Smith and Peter Dodd (amongst others) all animated on Corpse Bride. Lastly, animation supervisor Mark Waring worked on Corpse Bride, so the easy answer to “Who Animated Fantastic Mr. Fox?” is – much of the crew from Corpse Bride.

Here’s some behind-the-scenes clips to give you an idea of how it’s pulled together:

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.
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We’re a month away from the theatrical release of Wes Anderson’s stop-motion feature Fantastic Mr. Fox, and if the reviews at RottenTomatoes.com are any indication, it’s headed for success. And success for this film doesn’t have to be a $100 million domestic gross. The budget was reportedly “$20 to $30 million,” so a $15 opening weekend would likely thrill the 20th Century Fox execs. Here’s a recently released clip featuring voice-work by Jason Schwartzman.

This new clip from Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox resembles the old arcade hit Dig Dug. The stop-motion feature from 20th Century Fox tunnels into theaters on November 25, 2009.