Fantastic Mr. Fox |  | Director: Wes Anderson
Actors: Meryl Streep, George Clooney
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $19.49
as of 9/9/2010 20:27 MDT details
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Rating:  110 reviews
Sales Rank: 563
Format: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Unknown)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 024543655688
UPC: 024543655688
EAN: 0024543655688
ASIN: B001QOGYBI
Theatrical Release Date: November 6, 2009
Release Date: March 23, 2010
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Product Description
Angry farmers tired of sharing their chickens with a sly fox look to get rid of their opponent and his family. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 03/23/2010 Starring: George Clooney Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Wes Anderson
Amazon.com
The visually ravishing animated movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox follows a fox, voiced by George Clooney and dressed in a natty brown corduroy suit, as he cheerfully and recklessly takes his thieving ways a little too far and brings down the wrath of some sour-faced poultry farmers on his family and friends. Based on a lesser-known book by children's author Roald Dahl (who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach), the movie is the work of Wes Anderson (writer-director of Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums), who expanded and elaborated on the original story; the combination is inspired. Anderson's sensibility--his fondness for meticulous compositions, coordinated colors, and narrative filigree--can sometimes seem finicky and stiff in live-action movies, but it's exquisitely suited to the painstaking art of stop-motion animation. Every corner of the screen crackles with visual invention and whimsical humor. The top-notch vocal cast (which also features Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, and others) create vivid personalities that perfectly mesh with the movie's lush colors and luscious textures. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is an off-beat gem, a giddy mix of adult emotional issues, wild animal behavior, and childlike delight. --Bret Fetzer
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 110
 Fabulous, whimsical, funny as all get out - there's something quite fantastic about Mr. Fox and friends November 27, 2009
Nathan Andersen (Florida)
47 out of 49 found this review helpful
When we meet Mr. Fox he's in a bind - he and Mrs. Fox get caught in a trap and she tells him she's pregnant and he promises never ever but never again to risk his life taking from farmers. He'll get a respectable job, as a columnist for the local paper, but two years later (12 in fox years) they have a misfit teen and a visiting cousin and Mr. Fox is feeling middle aged and anxious, and itchy for the danger and criminal excitement of stealing poultry.
He's a wild animal at heart, he insists, not made to settle down into age and oblivion. He comes up with a plan, and along with his friend, the possum plumber, plans one last heist, not just any heist but the big one, stealing from the fiercest farmers around: Boggis, Bunce and Bean (you know: one fat, one short, one lean, but uniformly mean). They don't take it lying down. Mr. Fox's carefree and careless indiscretions turn into an all out war between the farmers and the animals, and everyone will have to work together and set aside rivalries and resentment and hurt feelings. The danger is real, and they take unnecessary risks, but they have a lot of fun and adventure along the way.
I really dig the quirky and stylish vibe of the irresponsibly fantastic Mr. Fox. Voiced by George Clooney with flair and a fancy whistle and a click, and animated in a silly and stylish retro stop motion approach. It's a very fun film, and my wife and I loved it and laughed out loud, a lot, but so did our kids (and so, apparently, did lots of others who couldn't stop busting up or exclaiming around us in the theaters). The film's got something for everyone, and stays true to the feel of Roald Dahl's classic tale while giving it the whimsical feel and quirky delights that can only be found in a Wes Anderson film. The retro-stylish clothing and settings and the family dynamics, especially that between a larger than life but aloof father and a struggling son (played perfectly by Jason Schwartzmann), fit easily into his oeuvre. I loved the look of the film, the delightful attention to detail, the colors and lighting were perfect, and the deliberately low tech touches, where you could see the ruffling hair and wobbling of water, just add to the charm. Great stuff, highly recommended.
Intelligent family filmaking; smart as a fox November 29, 2009
Gregory Ehrbar (Orlando, FL)
45 out of 54 found this review helpful
Frankly, they had me by opening the movie with "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," which by the way, is mistakenly listed in the credits as performed by The Wellingtons. Actually it is the soundtrack version by the MelloMen, but I've seen it mislabeled elsewhere too. And the highly underrated "Love" from "Robin Hood." How nice.
The entire score is as unconventional as the film -- dominated by banjo and rhythm tracks to give it an "independent film" texture rather than the now-obligatory John Williams-type score (not that I don't love those scores too, this is just a fresh approach and avoids the modern factory film feel).
Even the titles are clever, all in keeping not only with a singular director's vision, but also very much in the Roald Dahl style. This particular book, by the way, is perhaps one of the most challenging to bring to film since it is one of the few Dahl stories without magical fantasy elements.
I think the overall takeaway, and the thread through all the other comments on this topic is -- intelligence. That's a prized commodity in so much of today's entertainment, animated or otherwise. This is a film as smart as a fox.
One of the Best in a Long Time December 12, 2009
Kiri Wolfe (CA, USA)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
It's been a long time since I've seen a movie like this. At first, the animation looks a little cheap. The walks aren't that realistic. But after you get into the story, you don't care. The world is textured. It's beautiful. We don't see this kind of movie anymore, this stop-motion, and I don't know if it's simply just been too long since I've seen other stop-motion films like Chicken Run or what--I was enthralled.
This movie did not have an overly-typical storyline, but at the same time, it was not devoid of one either. The jokes were not written to try and provoke you to laugh out loud; you'll simply find them funny, perhaps to chuckle. But the thing I really loved about the movie was this--there was a lot of life in the film. Real life, something I identified with in the characters.
Don't expect a typical Phase 1, Phase 2, Climax, Ending, kind of film. Don't expect to be drawn into the story and be spit back out. This isn't exactly a story that ends with a clever line--it ends with the characters dancing. But I can guarantee you that you will enjoy this movie. It wasn't a "good" movie. It wasn't a "bad" movie. It was an "enjoyable" movie. And it's a higher honor to be an enjoyable movie rather than just a "good" one.
If There Was Ever a Movie That Lived Up To It's Name, This is It... December 1, 2009
D. Barbour (Shrewsbury, MA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is a rare family friendly movie that feels like an independent film. I love the humor and the clever story, which will draw comparisons to "Chicken Run", but is original all on it's own. The vocal performances are great, but the real highlight is the stop-motion animation. One of the best films to juggle being entertaining and smart for adult audiences, while remaining 99% kid-friendly. This would be the best animated film of the year if it weren't for "Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray]" - but it's pretty darn close!
Fantastic Mr. Anderson, Now in Fox-Time December 28, 2009
Roochak
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Filmmaker Wes Anderson is a specialist in comedies about the fault lines in the American dream. "Rushmore" concerns a prep school student, a middle-aged millionaire, and their romantic rivalry over a woman who doesn't want either of them. "The Royal Tennenbaums" examines a family of former prodigies and what happens when their estranged, deadbeat father re-enters their lives, while "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" imagines a Jacques Costeau type adventurer as a combination of Don Quixote and Captain Ahab. Anderson's new film, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," is the story of an aging family man who risks everything to recapture the thrill of his youth. It's set in an imaginary England where all the animal characters talk with American accents, and, along with the steampunk-influenced "Sherlock Holmes," it's one of the two new pictures I've most enjoyed this year.
Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) writes a newspaper column that even his friends don't seem to read, but it provides a comfortable living for his family. The trouble begins when he buys a new home near those of three grotesque farmers: rotund Boggis, dwarfish Bunce, and pencil-thin Bean (voiced by Michael Gambon), the smartest and most dangerous of the three. Mr. Fox, despite his promises to his wife Felicity (voiced to self-possessed perfection by Meryl Streep), reverts to his wild side in a series of nocturnal raids that brings down the wrath of the vindictive trio on himself, his family, and nearly all the wildlife in the area.
Even without all this, there's trouble in the Fox household between the Foxes' sad sack son, Ash, and his visiting cousin Kristofferson, a martial artist, athlete and student of Eastern meditation who outclasses him in just about everything. Ash responds with all the petty adolescent cruelties at his disposal, but he remains basically invisible to his father, a master thief and escape artist who can't understand why his son can't do much more than dress up like a comic book superhero.
The passage of time is an important part of this movie; two human years equals twelve fox years, and Mr. Fox notes that his father died at almost the same age he is now, leading him to wonder if he stopped being true to himself by giving up a life of crime; you get the feeling that he enjoys using the word "existential" without knowing what it means. It's underplayed, as all Wes Anderson comedies are underplayed, and the stop motion puppet animation looks, paradoxically, more lifelike than the typical CG animation we're now used to. One reason I find this movie so enjoyable is that it's an absurd, wickedly funny, thoughtful comedy that leaves the viewer time and room to think and savor the many verbal, visual, and musical jokes that pack the film (as opposed to the bludgeoning sitcom stupidity of most recent animated comedies).
I haven't found myself awaiting a home video release this eagerly in years.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 110
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