Fantasitc Mr. Fox 032310

Mr. Fox is the area’s greatest farm thief. He and his wife can get anything from any farmer. Until, they both get caught in a trap, she tells him she’s pregnant, and he promises to get a safer job. Two years (twelve fox years) later, Mr. Fox is hitting a midlife crisis. The result? He buys a new, above-ground house and decides to relive his glory days by robbing three local farmers: Boggis, Buntz, and Bean three of the meanest, nastiest, ugliest farmers in the valley. At first, he’s happy, but then Bean finds out where Fox lives and the farmers declare war on him. Now, as they hunt for Fox, he has to try and stay alive but also keep his family safe as well as every other animal in the valley who have all been sucked into the fight.

I loved this movie. This movie is very strange and reminded me of Hoodwinked. It’s essentially an independent animated movie and it’s really funny. The jokes are all really random and the dialogue is really witty. It’s directed by indy legend Wes Anderson (and if you don’t like his movies, don’t worry it’s different), who has apparently been working on the stop motion film for five years and it was time well spent. Everything has a very unique look and the film feels longer than it is but in a good way. By that I mean it’s the same length as Hey Arnold! The Movie but that movie felt like it was only forty-five minutes or so which left you feeling cheated. Fantastic Mr Fox feels just right. The plot is great because for a kids movie, it gets really dark and, frankly, hopeless which always makes an ending more satisfying.

I’m really not sure what to tell you about the bad in this movie. There was one scene near the end that made no sense whatsoever and the ending itself felt overly long. Beyond that, this movie really isn’t for everyone. The humor is probably beneath some and not in others taste. I think they’re probably in a small minority but they are there.

An A. I enjoyed this movie the more than any I’ve seen since Sherlock Holmes in January. That’s going to be another glowing review next week.