Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

This is the other movie we saw over Thanksgiving weekend, and chose it because we love Wes Anderson and George Clooney. It was cute, and if you have kids who will watch a movie on the big screen, definitely take them. The violence is cartoonish and there is only one death, though the mean humans try very hard to kill all the foxes and all their furry friends. I've enjoyed every movie that Anderson has directed: Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998-my favorite), The Royal Tenebaums (2001-next favorite), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007)). He wrote them all, and this one he adapted with the help of Noah Baumbach (writer/director of The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Margot at the Wedding (2007), as well as co-writer of Zissou) from a story by Roald Dahl.

In the story, Mr. Fox is self-confident and cool, but he is super-cool, i.e. Clooney-ized, in this version. I wrote a lot about Clooney in my post about his last one The Men Who Stare at Goats. We're not sure why Anderson bothered to cast Meryl Streep (I wrote a mini-bio for Julie & Julia) as Mrs. Fox, as she didn't have a lot to do, but, hey, why not? In fact, the voice cast was impressive: Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman (see I Heart Huckabees (2004), his cousin Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and Bored to Death now on HBO) as Ash Fox, Bill Murray (see Ghost Busters (1984), What About Bob? (1991), Groundhog Day (1993), Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), and Broken Flowers (2005)) as Badger, and Owen Wilson (great in Meet the Parents (2000) and Tenenbaums) as Coach Skip; plus Willem Dafoe (so many...I choose Wild at Heart (1990), The English Patient (1996), Auto Focus (2002), and Inside Man (2006)..he will have nine 2009 releases, including the controversial Antichrist) as Rat, Michael Gambon (to me he'll always be The Singing Detective (BBC-1986), and to others Harry Potter's Albus Dumbledore (forever)) as Bean (a human), Sofia's brother Roman Coppola as Squirrel Contractor, Garth Jennings (director of Son of Rambow) as Bean's son, Adrien Brody (loved Liberty Heights (1999), Son of Sam (1999), The Pianist (2002-won Oscar), and really liked Hollywoodland (2006), The Brothers Bloom, and Cadillac Records) as Field Mouse, chef Mario Batali as Rabbit, Brian Cox (Running with Scissors (2006), lots more) as Action 12 Reporter, and Anderson himself as Weasel. All this should please the adults and the kids won't give a rat's cuss. That's an amusing convention of this movie. There is no profanity, only the word "cuss," as in, don't cuss with me, and what the cuss? Our ticket seller saw fit to warn us that the animation was like nothing else he had seen. It is stop motion with handmade puppets. This wonderful 2-1/2 minute featurette will describe it for you. If you have time, I suggest you go deeper and watch some of the other videos linked on that site.

We enjoyed the movie and recommend it to parents to take their kids (the DVD is bound to be awesome, if they include the tech stuff), and for adults looking for something light and entertaining. I've added it to my list of Movies to Watch With Your Kids.