Fantastic Mr Fox

The stories written by Roald Dahl have touched us all in one way or another, more than two hundred and fifty million copies of his books have sold worldwide. All of his books were packed full of amazingly rich characters and wonderful imagination. They were mostly told from the position of the child but had a clear adult theme too, addressing class systems with the hero of the story generally being poor and overcoming the rich greedy baddy. Many of his books have been brought to the big screen with great success – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG and now we have Fantastic Mr Fox.

This adaption of Fantastic Mr Fox is brought to the screen in a truly unique style. Wes Anderson is famous for making films in a way that is instantly recognisable. He chose to use stop-frame animation but added his own magical touch to this style, visually the movie is a true delight and the viewer is sucked in by the detail. The Movie was critically acclaimed and nominated for numerous awards including academy awards, sales were not that great at the box office but due to its unique style Fantastic Mr Fox has built a huge fan base and I know myself it is a movie that I could watch over and again and still pick things up that I had missed the first time.

The other great thing about this film is the cast, it seems that there is always no shortage of stars that want to be in a Wes Anderson film and Fantastic Mr Fox is no exception. George Clooney is just perfect as Mr Fox, Meryl Streep is Mrs Fox, Bill Murray as Badger and Willem Dafoe as Rat – there are many more stars providing the voices and they all bring something special to their characters. As far as the story goes, this is one of the finest class stories that was ever written by Dahl as we see the Fox family pitted against the evil, fat, rich business men and it is the way that this is weaved into a fun childs outlook that is the genius of the overall story.

It seems that Mr Fox and his classic working-class family life truly has it Fantastic (maybe he is a little more middle class by the amount of champagne he splashes around) – he does everything in a Fantastic way and see's himself as quite the sophisticated man who is looked up to by his friends. His big problem is that he finds it hard to give into his animalistic temptations and this puts him, his Family and all his Friends in direct conflict against the rich farmers/business men – Boggis, Bunce and Bean. 

I could not recommend Fantastic Mr Fox enough – it really is a Cinematic Experience that is quite unique. The story is a Dahl Classic, the screen play is true to the Story, The cast is amazing and visually it is just stunning. Fantastic Mr Fox is just fantastic.

Update: Unfortunately, Fantastic Mr Fox is no longer available on Netflix. You can watch it on Amazon Instant Video and it is included with the Prime subscription.