Kids will be bored... and adults will find it a tough slog too

Rating: Null/10 (13 February 2017)

I did read the Roald Dahl children's book "Fantastic Mr. Fox" when I was a child, and I remember enjoying it, though I did have some issues with it (more on that later). When I sat down to watch this filmed version of the tale, I couldn't help but wonder how they would take what was a somewhat short book and make it to feature film length. As it turns out, only a short amount of the movie follows the book; the first third is a new backstory, then the next fifteen minutes or so follows the book, and the remaining running time is a kind of a sequel to what happened in the book.
The sequel portion of the movie is a little interesting, since as a child I wondered what happened after the point where the book ended. Though at times it felt like blatant padding, just like what the first thirty minutes felt at times. But the padding wasn't the main issue I had with the movie. The problem was the same that I had with the book as a child - I didn't much like the character of Mr. Fox, even more so in this movie. In the movie, he is such a braggart, a heartless thief, and so irresponsible that I was greatly annoyed by him. This is a fatal blow, in my opinion.
As for the animation, it was interesting to watch, if a little crude and cheap at times. But interesting animation almost never makes up for unlikable characters and boring story padding. I have a feeling that if Dahl were alive to see this filmed adaptation of his book, he'd be very unhappy... though reports state that he disliked almost all of the filmed adaptations of his writing.