Fantastic Mr. Fox

DVD works: ordered used (like new) and that's more or less what I got. it did arrive broken (the case, the disc was fine) but the plastic that was broken was still in the box and the disc was loose, so I believe it broke upon dropping from my letterbox (there was little padding on the plastic wrapping it came in after all) not when it was shipped. so that's fine.

I remember seeing the trailer for this and thinking 'oh no!'The reservations I had were with the animation style, casting and tone of the film, as presented in the trailer (as I remember it). However, these disappeared quickly when I sat down to watch the film with some friends.I am a fan of Wes Anderson's films, and believe the rhythm, tone and idiosyncratic writing that have become somewhat of a trademark for him are actually most effectively utilised and executed here, in a children's movie. Although, I'd argue it's not really a child's film, more so an indulgence of the child-like side of Anderson, his cast and the audience, should they wish their inner child to be so indulged.As many reviewers have detailed, this film adaptation is not particularly faithful to the source material. True enough. The film takes Dahl's work as a starting point and then runs with Anderson's imagination. The Fox family dynamic is as wonderfully realised as that of the Tenenbaums, if not more so. The fact that the film is animated perhaps gave the director even greater license to be, well, silly. The same could be said for the film's sweetness at times and the absurd level of violence that normally only cartoons can display for younger audiences (don't worry parents, it's never gruesome).Fantastic Mr Fox made me laugh, a really hearty and full laugh, and I enjoyed it immensely. Dahl's book likewise.I ask: So what if the film devieates from the source material and does not bring to the screen a word for word, page by page retelling of the book? Adaptations, by their nature, must adapt the original material to suit the medium they are moving to. Furthermore, it is nigh on impossible to satisfy each and every fan of a book. We will all have our ideas of how the characters should sound, how they should move and so on to the minutae of characterization. So, can it ever be correct to discount out of hand the interpretation of another, and their subsequent adaptation? Obviously I'm not going to lie and say I'm fine and comfortable with every film adaptation of a book I've loved on this basis (see most film versions of Alan Moore's work), but I do think some Dahl fans, particularly the older ones, could do with giving this film a chance on it's own merits. Let the original book be what it is, a fantastic piece of children's literature. Then, let this film be what it is, a charming, funny, quirky, eccentric, inventive, colourful and altogether different children's(ish) film.

I watched this, with my now nine year old son (it was a birthday present) for the third time in one week last night. I don't wish to disparage Disney Pixar but we watched a Disney Pixar film (another birthday present - generally released at the same time as Fantastic Mister Fox) for the first time last night and then we looked at eachother and (almost simultaneously) said, "Let's watch Fantastic Mr Fox again."This is so obviously a Roald Dahl thing. The characterisations are wonderful. Not the cloying, stereotype (stamp on those now well trodden heart strings) lazy characterisations of Disney but actually carefully wrought by an author who didn't rely on children being morons to sell stories. (It's laugh a minute for adults too.)Watching it for the third time, in a week, did little to damage the impact and we have all agreed that we are noticing new stuff all the time. Nine year old son has quickly co-opted Foxy's manic grin/grimace and his father is still trying to perfect (constantly trying to perfect) Foxy's 'trademark'.The animation will be vaguely reminiscent, familiar and joyful, of those childhood experiments with Sine cameras and Action men but even though 'stop motion' is an old technique there is nothing 'old' about the efforts of the animators. It is animation only enhanced by the comical nostalgia of the stop motion. You will laugh at the almost deliberate 'antiqueness' of the very expert animation.You will love the characters. The vocal actors are perfect. Never again will I see George Clooney in just the same way now that he IS Mister Fox the very humanly flawed dad who just wants to be fantastic.And Jarvis Cocker is in there too!Most children's films do not make children laugh all the way through. Smile, perhaps, but not laugh. This does.

A great enjoyable film.

If you are in the mood for watching something slightly unusual, funny, visually stunning and a fair few hops and skips away from Disney (just for a change!) then this is the film for you. If I am completely honest, I wasn't sure about it at first, and wondered over the course of the first 10 minutes of the film, if this was suitable for my 4 year old - but I love Roald Dahl. And my daughter absolutely loved it, and was devastated to learn it had been deleted on our Sky box, hence we have now decided to buy it and watch it again and again. George Clooner is PERFECTLY cast as the poultry thieving mastermind, the 'Fantastic Mr Fox', torn between the call of the wild and his perfect little foxy family (his beautiful wife voiced by Meryl Streep) and his little boy, whose conception encouraged his father out of his life of crime and into family bliss, a step not an easy one for him to take. Roll on adventure, danger and more masterminding as Mr Fox decides to pull off one more(or three) last heists and, by doing so, puts his family (and the rest of the wild life) in danger. Can he save them all?