Roald Dahl has been one of my favorite authors ever since I was a kid. Fantastic Mr. Fox being well...fantastic! Needless to say I was excited to see Wes Anderson's movie version. I've always been a fan of Anderson's work (Bottlerocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Life Aquatic) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wallace Wolodarsky, and Willem Dafoe provide an all-star cast of voices for the film. Now, I bought this for my son's 2nd birthday thinking it would be more for him, but I was pleasently surprised that it was typical Wes Anderson and didn't keep my son's attention much, but I fuckin' loved it! Mr. Fox begins secretly raiding the farms of three of the nastiest men in the valley – Burgis, Bunce and Bean – who in turn devise a dastardly plan to kill Mr. Fox that puts the entire animal community in danger. That may sound about as exciting as a nature special, but Anderson turns it into a hilarious crime caper, with Mr. Fox assuming the role of a Danny Ocean-like character as he enlists the help of his fellow critters to fight back against the farmers. What makes it all work is the decision to give the animals more human characteristics, while still utilizing their wild animal traits to comedic effect. Watching Mr. Fox speak Latin one minute and devour a stack of pancakes the next is hilarious, but not nearly as much as the addition of replacing all swearing with the word "cuss." The real highlight of "Fantastic Mr. Fox," however, is the animation. While Anderson could have easily gone the CG route like most animated movies these days, he’s chosen to film it in stop-motion instead, and it looks absolutely incredible. I definitely recommend this to any fan of Dahl and/or Anderson.
(Here's the one I grew up on)
Below I've included some great screen shots and concept art I found on the net:
