Rating: 9/10

Writers: Roald Dahl (novel), Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach (screenplay)
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson (all voice)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox

Originally posted on November 6th, 2009

Let’s get the obvious pun out of the way, and then we can all pretend it didn’t happen and that I am significantly cleverer than such a simple sentence would imply. FANTASTIC MR. FOX is fantastic! I feel better now that I’ve said that.

Like the other recent based-on-a-classic-kids’-book film adaptation WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, FANTASTIC MR. FOX is not necessarily meant for the little kiddies. But unlike WILD THINGS, its audience (adults and kids alike) will not walk of the film under a dark cloud of existential sadness (that wasn’t just me, right?). This is not to say that the film does not tackle some big issues, because it certainly does. Our fantastic Mr. Fox brings destruction and almost imminent death to those nearest and dearest to him. And he does it all out of a misguided desire to appear cool and hip, to court the danger he thinks that, as a fox, he should always be embroiled in. But, along the way, there is no shortage of belly laughs, dance numbers, plucky music, and real heart.

George Clooney’s Mr. Fox is a reformed bandit, having traded in his fox-in-the-henhouse lifestyle two years (twelve fox-years) earlier, after finding out he was to be a dad. Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) made him promise to give up his wild ways for a settled life. But Foxy is looking for more from his existence. He daringly moves his family into a tree overlooking the farms of our main villains – the three big farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean – because he wants something more than just the typical fox lifestyle. That’s a lifestyle that entails living in a hole, because that’s what’s safe and prudent. But that’s not what Mr. Fox is made for. After settling into the tree, Foxy is emboldened, so he plans one last heist, this time with his new opossum friend, the slightly dim-witted, but utterly well-meaning Kylie.

Meanwhile, the baby fox that reformed Mr. Fox is dealing with his own issues. Young Ash is determined to be viewed as a crafty athlete, like his dear old dad (the best whack-bat player their alma mater ever turned out). But Ash isn’t the smooth operator his dad is, or the natural athlete his visiting cousin (the endearing and perfect) Kristofferson is. Fans of Jason Schwartzman will see a lot of his RUSHMORE character in Ash Fox; Max Fischer and young Ash could make a real field day of being simultaneously precocious, insufferable, and adorable. While you’re probably familiar with papa Fox’s “trademark” facial expressions and hand gestures from the trailers, keep an eye out for Ash’s own – it’s his entire character in miniature, silly and sassy and “different.”

Eventually, Fox’s fun plans fall apart, and the entire forest is affected by it. Boggis, Bunce, and Bean come after the Fox family and all their friends, complete with guns and bulldozers and enough rage to keep them on the warpath for plenty of time. Fox has to own up to his immature decisions and the reasons behind why he made them to begin with. He must also, of course, be fantastic and save the day…fantastically.

But don’t let that moral center of the film fool you, FANTASTIC MR. FOX is an absolute joy to watch. It’s hilarious through and through, and there are plenty of laughs that the trailers have not spoiled. It reads just like any Wes Anderson film – hysterical and off-kilter, but just realized enough to not fall into loopy fantasy. It’s a film about people (well, animals) that are different and wonderful, and how they retain their own uniqueness in the face of adverse events and the boring old “real world.” Of course, the truly beautiful stop-motion used to animate the film only adds to the magic of the film’s look and feel. It’s enough to make you wish that CG films didn’t exist, that every animated adventure felt this personal and hand-crafted and this (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) utterly fantastic.