Fromage Fridays #20: Agent F.O.X.

I need to write an apology to Speckles the Tarbosaurus.

“Agent F.O.X.”  will probably stand tall as a paragon of what I should probably expect whenever I open the Fromage door for animation.

For all of my criticisms of “The Dino King,” at least I was watching some sort of ambition at work. The concept was sound, the CGI, though primitive by industry standards, was consistent and serviceable and despite the god awful delivery on the English narration, there were a few spots of genuine brilliance in a film that was otherwise bizarre and cheap.

No such luck this week. “Agent F.O.X.” follows its titular character infiltrating a town of rabbits under the pretense of being amnesiac in order uncover the town’s secrets for his agency of foxes… for some reason.

“Agent F.O.X.” is an animated movie from China but has a lot of common ground with most mainstream American animated movies; its plot is loose and recycled in order for its production team to focus on creating flashy, if potentially hollow animation. Unfortunately, “Agent F.O.X.” forgets to add the flash.

The movie begins with a narrated prologue, with its narrator speaking passionately of an experience that as changed his life.

The leap from this intro graphic into the actual animation of the movie is a whiplash the likes of which I have never before experienced. The first minute or so of this film feels straight out of another flick entirely. I still don’t know what that movie is but I wish that it had been what my eyes were welcomed to rather than the uncanny valley dwelling horrors that were to meet me with this production.

I won’t lie; the first 10 minutes of “Agent F.O.X.” had me absolutely giddy. If you look up any sort of promo material for this movie, you’ll notice quite a bit of effort has been put into the detail of the fur of Fox and his furry friends. I can only imagine this was done in an attempt to distract from how horrendously awkward the actual animation was, which pulls out all of the stops in its first act.

Both the subpar animation and their intense efforts to make said animation look cool through coordination that doesn't keep within the budget and terrible editing were simultaneously funny and fascinating to watch. Sadly however, that fascination tapers off through long term exposure and the nightmare inducing expressions of the characters themselves.

Once Fox implants himself within the rabbit society and his conflicting interests in his new “friends” and current mission come to a head, it brings about the most crippling problem of the film; it’s an 80 minute movie that’s over 30 minutes too long. No matter how funny, horrific or irritating you may find the film at the start, by the time you wind down the half way point, you will just be flat out bored.

When the novelty of “Agent F.O.X.” wears off, you’re left with something more forgettable than bizarrely memorable, despite how agonizingly boring the middle chunk is. Animation of this low quality may not pop up often but it doesn't leave enough of an impression to make it worth sitting through. 

½ Shatner

Bottom Line: "Agent F.O.X." gets half a point for awkward-mation alone but it's lucky to even get that.