Filmikaze!

By: Wes Anderson (director, screenplay), Roald Dahl (novel)

Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson

Angry farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with a sly fox, look to get rid of their opponent and his family.

The only Roald Dahl book I’ve ever read is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so I was fortunate enough to watch the film adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox unfettered by any sentimental attachment to the source material. I feel this bears mentioning because another recent adaptation of a beloved children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, was a truly tedious film undeniably bolstered by viewer nostalgia rather than the strength of the movie itself.

But I digress; Fantastic Mr. Fox is a truly clever and endearing film entirely in its own right. This is the best sort of “children’s” movie, as it manages to maintain the whimsy crucial to the genre while being smart and genuinely entertaining to adults, as well.

The details are what make this movie: it is chock full of charming and hilarious nuances, from the setting to the dialogue, but never feels too weighed down by them. This is the kind of movie you watch over and over again because you know that it will be consistently enjoyable, and that each rewatch will reveal something new you’d previously missed. The voice acting is superb (Just when I thought I couldn’t adore George Clooney more), the animation is charming, and Wes Anderson has done a wonderful job in creating what will undoubtedly be an enduring favorite among kids and grown-ups alike.