Too American, and surely not for children?

Rating: Null/10 (7 December 2010)

I am English. I am a huge Roald Dahl fan. I am also a huge Wes Anderson fan.
So when I saw one of my favourite children's stories made by such a wonderfully distorted mind I was intrigued.
Unfortunately, I was ultimately disgusted.
'Fantastic Mr Fox' has a great animation style, possibly a little vintage for kids today but beautiful and enjoyable nonetheless. Roald Dahl's story is in there somewhere, and you are treated to the protagonists seedy arrogance perfectly... Not with George 'cussing' Clooney though, for petey's sake! Which reminds me, what is the point of 'bleeping' swearwords with the word 'cuss' when you use the word every 2 minutes? Surely this is still swearing continuously, not what most people would want to suggest to kids.
Although beautifully done, the characters were eerie; their eyes scary and when turned 'cartoonish' (spirals or x-es) just horrible! I'm still reeling from an existentialist discussion between a fox and an opossum, and an evil rat receiving last rites and repenting with black mud which has obviously been transubstantiated to his beloved cider. What???!! Throughout all of the madness I was continually outraged to see a supposedly English backdrop spoiled with goofs like 'station waggons', satellite vans and an opossum? Where is this supposed to be set? Oh, and what was Jarvis Cocker doing in the film as a weird cameo, or Owen Wilson for that matter?
Overall just too annoying, and definitely not recommended for children; I wasn't expecting to see a mauled amputated tail look quite so realistic. Having said that, I may well watch again - in the full knowledge I am watching an adult film. And I shall try and ignore the cussing. And the scientific names written with a capital on both words. Tsk...