Seen on: November 25, 2009

The players: Director: Wes Anderson, Writers: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray

Facts of interest: Based on Roald Dahl's book.

The plot: This one tells the story of a clever fox who enters a war with three angry farmers trying to destroy his territory.

Our thoughts: Power to the wild animals! Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is as close to perfection as a film in the world of stop-motion can get, and I’m happy to announce I absolutely loved every single minute of this magical, highly entertaining adventure based on Roald Dahl’s popular book. In other words, this is indeed a fantastic big-screen experience.

George Clooney voices the movie’s courageous protagonist Mr. Fox, an eccentric, yet very likable fox who’s sick and tired of living in a dirty hole and decides to move his lovely wife (Meryl Streep) and his grumpy son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) into a nice, big tree in proximity to the properties of the three meanest, most dangerous farmers in the valley.

Many years ago, Mr. Fox promised his wife he wouldn’t return to his old habits and steal from farmers, but now that he’s so close to his favorite prey, he simply cannot help but develop a master plan to invade all three farms and stock up on chicken, turkey and delicious cider. Only problem: he clearly underestimates the farmers’ desire to seek revenge…

Even though the events following Mr. Fox’s execution of his master plan clearly cause a major shift of the film’s plot, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is never boring or slow-moving. As I mentioned before, I adored every minute of it, and the list of reasons is quite simply enormous. That said, I particularly enjoyed the movie’s humor and intriguing character development.

As a fan of Anderson’s work, I already knew it wouldn’t take me long to like these characters, but much to my surprise, most of these figures have much more depth to them than I expected. Mr. Fox, his wife and his son especially boast incredibly subtle personalities that really made it so much easier for me to connect with these gorgeous puppets.

Speaking of puppets, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” carries so much detail when it comes to the film’s entire design, and the stop-motion is just amazing. The lighting, the colors, the costumes and everything else we get to admire on the screen just adds so much more character to the whole story, and the amount of detail here immediately blew me away.

The voice cast, of course, delivers the goods as well, and Clooney is fantastic in the role of the eager fox who takes pleasure in raiding farms without really thinking about the devastating consequences. Streep’s calm voice as the reasonable wife works so well, and especially Schwartzman as Fox’s son Ash does an amazing job.

As the story of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” progresses, we cinemagoers really get to discover these wonderful characters, and by the time the film reaches its ending, we realize we’ve just watched a bunch of energetic puppets confronting their flaws, finding their real identity and coming together as a real, strong family. It’s a wonderful tale indeed.

Let me also point out that Anderson wrote the screenplay for the film together with the incredibly talented filmmaker Noah Baumbach (“The Squid and the Whale”), an expert when it comes to family drama. This marks their second collaboration (after “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”), and their work just keeps getting better.

Freaky quote: "If what I think is happening is happening, it better not be." - Meryl Streep

The final word: Not everybody will enjoy the film’s special style or the unique Anderson touch, and hey, that’s fine with me. I absolutely adored “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” and it’s an adventure I will certainly revisit. Before I stop, just let me say it one more time: this one’s truly fantastic.

Article by Franck Tabouring