A Pretty Fantastic Little Film

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2015)

To begin, I was a big fan of Roald Dahl as a kid, but this was his worst book by far. It was a dull simple bare bones story but the makers of this film really added the meat and interest to the plot. The characters were given unique personalities that were un-expounded upon in Dahl's book and extra events were added so that it could be made into a full feature. The writers definitely made this into an engaging story. From the beginning it was evident that Wes Anderson had a hand in making this (which was good in this instance) from the vintage artsy style to the panning cutaway room camera shots to his reoccurring all star cast. Stop motion has always fascinated me and the detail and quality of this work was incredible with only a few small hiccups when it came to the additional challenge of fur. The movie was all around funny, quirky, had enjoyable creative ticks, and pleasurable music. Only a few complaints remain in the end: that wolf scene made no sense and I hate cheesy dancing scenes at the end of movies that they typically include in kids movies or Bollywood Films. I find them utterly ridiculous, but even with that this is a gem of a film that achieves the rare accomplishment of outshining the book from which it originated.