The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Cunning, creative, crafty and sly as a…well, you know, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a truly original and innovative adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic. It’s co-writer/director Wes Anderson at his quirky best, which is really saying something coming from the guy who made The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tannenbalms, Rushmore and Bottle Rocket.

He’s used the voice talents of many of his favorites, such as Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody, and thrown in heavy weights like George Clooney as the title character, Meryl Streep as his wife, Michael Gambon as a farmer and Willem Dafoe as the rat. Instead of directing them toward exaggerated character acting, he instructed them to use their natural voices, and recorded them in natural environments. So instead of using an antiseptic and isolated sound studio, he took the actors out on farms, fields and forests. When the animated characters were digging, the actors were digging. And they actually interacted with each other and recorded together, rather than singularly. The result is fresh, natural, earthy and full of chemistry as woodland creatures should be.

The visuals are also an earthly delight, with Anderson developing a distinctive look and feel unlike anything we’ve see before. His stop-motion characters are warm, woody and unique—they look like the really expensive European stuffed animals you would have collected as a kid if your parents were rich.

The plot weaves animal and human nature together—Mr. Fox bites off more than he can chew when he buys a bigger, better tree house for his family, and, in an effort to cover all bases and satisfy his foxy nature, he gives in to the temptation to stage major raids on the local farms. Meanwhile, his insecure son tries to keep up with his gifted cousin and his father’s reputation, while all try to fit in with the wood creature community.

Adult issues and humor will go right over the children’s heads, but that doesn’t matter – there’s plenty to keep the little ones entertained as well. The Fantastic Mr. Fox proves that Pixar is not the only studio that can come up with wildly creative imagination. There’s plenty of room at the top for all quality comers.--Lisa Johnson Mandell