MovieChat Forums > Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Discussion > Your favorite 'little thing' in this mov...

Your favorite 'little thing' in this movie.

posted 14 years ago by krb221
185 replies | jump to latest

By 'little thing', I mean some trivial, irrelevant, and/or otherwise insignificant thing that is happening in the scene (often in the background and by characters who are not related to what is happening).

For example, the first time they all dig underground and Mr. & Mrs. Fox are about to step on the 'other side of this mineral deposit', watch Kristofferson. He is meditating, and keeps getting distracted by them talking. He finally and very subtly rolls his eyes and gets back to it. This is completely and totally irrelevant to the story, and it not part of the scene, but it is one of the little things you notice with repeat viewings that just demonstrates how much went into this movie and adds to the enjoyment.

[–] gobigblue88 14 years ago

The whole "a little different" thing with varying hand gestures and voice inflections.

I have NO idea why that worked for me so much, but it did. At first, I just found it amusing. And then I actually kinda found it a little moving. I think you only understand that if you ARE "a little different."

[–] krb221 14 years ago

Trust me, you are lot alone in liking that. I liked how each character had a different hand gesture.

[–] Six-Shooter 13 years ago

Do you mean "different" as in gay or "different" in a vague, literal way?

The knack to flying lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

[–] Skppy1225 14 years ago

I love all of Kristofferson's facial expressions throughout the film.

[–] lostlilly 14 years ago

Ooh, goodness, I'll need to see the film again when it's out on DVD to remember (or notice for the first time) all the little bits and pieces and characteristics that make the film so vivid. For a more obvious one, I really loved Ash's ear flick whenever he was hurt or annoyed, it was a lovely little nuance.

I also liked how when Kylie blinked his cheeks would squash upwards, and his blinks seemed a little slower than everyone else's; it was very cute and very much suited the character.

[–] martine_everhart 14 years ago

Oh my gosh; I loved so many of the little things! It's a great reason I went back and rewatched it.
1) The look of the stop motion water when BB&B flood the badger's mine during the dinner party.
2) The line near the end- something like "I just intercepted a high frequency radio transmission using this tin can."
3) How little Mrs. Fox's painting was when the three Bs blew up the Fox tree house. Inside the house, it was big enough as a landscape pianting to fit over the bed, but when the three Bs pull it out of the hole, it's tiny!
4) and i just read Danny the Champion of the World again, so to see the blueberry trick made think of all those pheasants and I loved it all!
5) Rat's west side story snappy-fighty dance :)

and the "just a little different" hand motion, yes! and Street fightin' man!

so many wonderful things. I wonder why the little one little kid was dressed in a skeleton uniform the whole time.

[–] krb221 14 years ago

Yeah, what was with the skeleton Halloween costume. Funny, but random, not sure if there was a point (and it does not matter).

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dotdfan123 14 years ago

-Kylie's blank stare and shrugging his shoulders. then when he performs his new trademark at the end in the grocery store with that clap, and then shrugs his shoulders again in confusion.

-every time you see one of the farmer's little kid in the kitchen watching tv he has this ridiculous expression on his face.

-all the animations for the beagles especially the blueberry parts.

-possibly my favorite moment in the entire film was when they encountered the wolf in the distance and the wolf salutes mr. fox very stoic like, and runs off.

[–] xvertigenx 14 years ago

My absolute favorite little thing is the air fist Fox and Wolf give to each other as well. Me and my girlfriend do it when we say bye to each other now :p

For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

[–] charkanine 13 years ago

Mine is hands down when Ash unlocks the gate near the end of the movie and pops up with "Hotbox".

So funny.

Also, after they get flooded out of the flint mine with cider, and Kylie pops up and says "Apple Juice. Apple juice flood" and Mr.Fox pops out behind him. XD

[–] Gheelnory 13 years ago

Two Ash moments:

First, when he tries to join Mr. Fox and Kylie and Mr. Fox tells him to go home, Ash puts up his fists in front of him and shakes them rapidly in frustration and anger. (It's just a second or so, but the brilliance of the timing and the comic exaggeration of his pique kills me every time!)

Second, after Ash has brilliantly weighed less than a slice of bread and knocked the door open, releasing the rabid beagle, and they have all escaped on the motorbike and Mr. Fox has handed Ash his very own bandit hat---with stars on it!---Ash, just for an instant, looks straight into the camera.

I love that.

[–] BouncyCastle 13 years ago

Ash: Why didn't *I* get shot at???

"If this wasn't my son's wedding day, I'd knock your teeth out, you anti-Dentite bastard."

[–] Gheelnory 13 years ago

Three more:

1) When Mr. Fox and Badger are talking in Badger's office about buying the tree, and Badger is advising against it because of the tree's being so close to the three awful farmers' land, he tells Mr. Fox that the local human children have a song about how mean the farmers are----and he has it already cued up on his tape player.

2) At dinner in the tree, Kylie is seated at the kids' table instead of at the adults' table.

3) During the battle near the end, after the flaming pine cones are lobbed out at the town, Mrs. Fox paints the resulting fires into her panoramic landscape canvas.

[–] BouncyCastle 13 years ago

Here are a couple more

Both are from the scene where Ash interrupts Agnes and Kristofferson, who are drinking punch:

1) I really like how Ash is talking about one thing, and then suddenly says, "was I rude to Agnes? I'll talk to her. I'll talk to her in a minute" or something like that.

2) After Ash tells K his plan to steal back his dad's tail, K's response is something like, "Oh! Wow. Huh. Whew. Hmm." I love that.

"If this wasn't my son's wedding day, I'd knock your teeth out, you anti-Dentite bastard."

[–] BouncyCastle 13 years ago

Here is a frickin GEM that just slays me, that I just noticed for the first time today:

- during the first shot of the tree that Fox wants to buy, there's a Stan Weasel "For Sale" sign. Check out the ladybug crawling on top of it, from right to left (I think it's a ladybug, hard to tell).

"If this wasn't my son's wedding day, I'd knock your teeth out, you anti-Dentite bastard."

[–] Gheelnory 13 years ago

I haven't yet seen the ladybug....kewl! ^_^

[–] tmjsykes 13 years ago

- The unrealistic way the characters run
- The matter-of-fact way Michael Gambon (Bean) speaks, especially the running gag of him sending requests to Petey via his walkie talkie.
- The vacant eyes.
- The occasional wild behaviour (eating, confrontation with the lawyer-badger about real estate advice) juxtaposed with the animals' usual manners.
- The way the rat moves.

[–] MynameisJanetSnakehole 9 years ago

That's mine too ! A lol moment for me. It's so cute, he was so psyched to be a part of something instead of being pushed aside as an incompetent.

My second favorite is when Kristofferson bounced the acorn all around the kitchen to land perfectly in his bowl.

Everybody calm down! Have some fruit or something !

[–] martine_everhart 14 years ago

How about the elaborate almost fleur de lys shape of Kristofferson's splash when he dives from the tree branch into the kiddie pool?
hee hee!

[–] krb221 14 years ago

There is even a little section on that in the 'Making of' book.

Oh, in the same scene, when Mr. Fox is applauding Kristofferson, Mrs. Fox shoots him a quick dirty look.

[–] kai_venice 13 years ago

"Are you scared of wolves?"
"Scared? No, I have a phobia of them."

"Actually, we should just go... Where'd I park?"

"I weigh less than a slice of bread."
"What??"
"Be right back."

The way they scarfed down food just cracked me up, everytime :-) I also noticed the "cuss" graffiti, hee-larious!

Just a few, but really, too many to count :D

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

[–] carrieloulou 14 years ago

If you listen very closely, when they are outside under the tree and we are being introduced to Kristofferson, you can hear a song from Disney's "Robin Hood". "Love". I love that.

[–] John_Q_Adding_Machine 14 years ago

wow, i immediately thought of "Love" when i saw the thread, and you beat me by 2 hrs.

I also liked the miniature motor cycle hidden behind the "normal sized" one.

And Agnes' spots.

[–] krb221 14 years ago

I need to watch that movie now, just to hear the song.

[–] solidblur 14 years ago

You should all check out the amazing soundtrack on spotify.

Anyway, favorite small things:

When Mr. Fox does his dinner speech for the second time, he raises an invisible glass and throws it down, making a small "CHrssss" sound as it "breaks". Thought that was hilarious.

Mr. Fox utters a barely audible "cussss" as his tail is shot off.

And this is not really a detail in the same sense, but the closing shot of them dancing in the supermarket to "Let her dance" and the way Mr. Fox's moves correspond to the beat of "DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE, BABY DANCE DANCE DANCE!" always makes the hairs on my neck stand erect in happiness. Such a great ending.

Kristoffersen is probably my favorite out of the bunch, his dialogue is always hysterical. "Are you a bully? You look like a bully... -I beg your pardon, a wet sandwich?". Amazing.

[–] zheng-qingq 14 years ago

Ooh, there're so many cussing good little things from this movie:

-The plastic bag Fox uses for the drugged blueberries.
-Everytime Kylie's eye goes X.X
-Everytime rat does his clicking finger dance

[–] Chilosopher 14 years ago

I cracked up so hard every time the animals ate. Fox would be giving a nice, articulate speech at the breakfast table and then NOMNOMNOMNOM. I don't know if it's actually irrelevant to the story, since it does reflect the "we are all wild animals at heart" theme of the film, but it was a pretty random running gag that worked every time for me.

[–] krb221 14 years ago

Exactly. But more to the point, it was funny.