Amid all the Stateside discussion of whether The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a film for the whole family or a kind of high-caliber over-25 broodfest, the film's marketing army in the UK has fallen squarely on the side of the kids. How can you tell? Collect the reasons -- and why they're a good thing -- after the jump.
Mr. Fox, which opened the London Film Festival two weeks ago and debuted in British cinemas last Friday, has aligned itself with McDonald's restaurants in the UK to distribute its title character and three of his pals as toys in McD's Happy Meal menu. At least one critic across the pond has pooh-poohed the promotion on both artistic ("True art, it seems, can co-exist after all with moist, defeated cheeseburgers and limp, glossy French fries. I do hope Cahiers du Cinema got the memo") and nutritional ("Anderson in particular should not be getting into bed with McDonald's, and using his work to lure young children into destructive eating habits; it's a lose-lose situation") grounds, but eeaaaaasssyyyy there, pal. There are a few things to keep in mind here:
1. Some people like McDonalds. Hell, most people like McDonalds. Maybe there's heroin in the fries or some craving hormone juiced into the beef at preparation. Who knows? It's delicious and a fundamental part of growing up -- even if means ultimately being revolted by the whole brand, restaurant, food, factory farming, etc. Lording one's elitism over the Golden Arches' billions and billions served is simply counterproductive. A kid enjoying a Happy Meal every now and then is not the same as one developing "destructive eating habits," especially when -- let's face it -- that kid is simply trying to get the Mr. Fox toy anyway before going back to the No. 3 Quarter Pounder Value Meal, which is where the real customer satisfaction is at.
2. Fox Searchlight's been in a bit of a rut this year, so to see one of the studio's most anticipated and high-expectation products develop its own black market on eBay -- especially one that doesn't involve the resale of its young stars -- is really quite refreshing.
3. What if the Mr. Fox toys were to expose kids to Anderson's other work, and thus introduce them to those greats of cinema who influenced him over the years? What if those "moist, defeated cheeseburgers" (which I'm craving now, thanks very much) were in fact a springboard to a youth packed with Bresson, Ozu, Renoir, Bergman, Allen, Altman, et. al.? For this potential alone the Fantastic Mr. Fox Happy Meal is the greatest marketing tie-in since Michael Bay M&M's. Talk about bad for you, but did the Brits ever whine about those? Of course not.
4. When Wes Anderson buys a Happy Meal, does the McDonald's cashier bitch to the L.A. Times months later that he's a "little OCD" and "sociopathic" for only ordering remotely from the drive-thru?
5. Naturally this calls for an Antichrist Happy Meal™ featuring that film's talking fox, the deer, the crow and... ? Nothing that involves scissors, please.
· McDonald's UK Happy Meal [McDonald's UK]
· Fantastic Mr Fox's McDonald's tie-in is a fantastically wrong move [Guardian]