Fantastic Mr. Fox Review

Four out of Five stars

Widely enjoyable, very funny comedy with a pleasantly peculiar animation and a superb cast of voice, but the biggest surprise is just how ideally it sits along the previous films of Anderson.

About the movie

Based on the book of children by Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox stars George Clooney as Mr. Fox and is directed by Wes Anderson. Mr. Fox, who had promised his wife Felicity (Meryl Streep) that he would give up a life of henhouse thievery when their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) takes birth and now moves forward to write a column in the newspaper which is read by almost nobody. However after 12 Fox years (2 real years) of going forward with the same job, Mr. Fox longs for the thrilling adventure of a perfect crime, so he goes forth and plots a triple hit on the farms of Bunce, Boggis and Bean (Hugo Guinness, Robin Hurlstone and Michael Gambon).
Perhaps the delightful surprise of Mr. Fox is that, despite the source material and the animation, it still carries forth its traditions of being a Wes Anderson film and can conveniently match the likes of The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited, both structurally and thematically. This is highlighted by a superb star cast which includes Anderson regulars such as Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson (as Coach Skip) and Bill Murray (Fox’s Lawyer, as brilliant as Badger), along with a terrific cast.

While it pretty much helps to maintain his signature style, Anderson uses bands like The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones on the soundtrack is at times grating. Likewise, the script offers some annoying Americanisms like five and dime, despite the fact that it was supposed to be set in England.