Whimsical and Fun

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2017)

Wes Anderson brings his unique eccentricity to this Roald Dahl tale of a gentlemanly fox who decides to pull one final heist on local farmers. The director chooses to the colorful medium of stop-motion animation which was an animation trademark for director Tim Burton, but this is pure Anderson.
Dripped in a rich color palette of traditional fall colors like orange, yellow, brown and red, the atmosphere sets itself apart from other Wes Anderson worlds. The director is known for picking a specific color scheme to illustrate his films and here the fall colors set the time of year and fit with the characters of the Fox family and their associates.
As usual, Anderson assembles an all star cast of actors to bring his characters to life like frequent collaborators Bill Murray as the grouchy Badger and Jason Schwartzman as Ash Fox, son of the title Mr. Fox, while also bringing in well-established actors like George Clooney as the mischievous and suave title character, Meryl Streep as the clever and loyal wife of Clooney's Mr. Fox as well as a minor appearance from Willem Dafoe as the voice of the scheming and devious Rat (too fitting a character for the actor known for playing villains). Every player in the film brings the comradeship needed between them while also being believable as a family unit or adversaries.
The film takes a unique approach to language as director Wes Anderson tosses out traditional cursing and swaps in the word"cuss" whenever a character has to swear. At times it is evident what word the actor might actually have said and other times it's purely entertaining without replacing a certain curse word. This idea keeps the material family-friendly for any younger viewers, but provides an adult joke for all the grown-ups.