Wonderful Surprise!!

Rating: 10/10 (28 January 2010)

With Wes Anderson at the helm of Director, George Clooney finds himself in yet another snatch-and-run thief caper. Only this time you'll find yourself wanting to re-watch scenes and the entire movie over and over again. Stop-motion animation will always have a soft spot in my heart for nostalgic and technical reasons. I always want to see how far they would go and they always remind me of being dazzled by them as a kid. This movie delivers in much more ways than taking you back. Filled with endless quotes and humour that will make even the most robotic viewer bubble-over.
I Like Wes Anderson's movies, they always come from a different angle with what the core story is and they always have a unique human element that you can both see yourself in and appreciate. Based on a story from Roald Dahl, we join up with Mr. Fox who is prompted to change his line of work as a poultry thief when his wife, Mrs. Fox, gets pregnant. The world is very detailed and feels very familiar as all the animals interact in an almost seamless human way whilst not abandoning their animal nature. The voice talent casting is superb as all the animals seem justly matched and equally theatrical. The story is very engaging from its start but gets even more-so when Mr. Fox, bored with being and overlooked newspaper columnist decides to don bandit hats with his possum friend, Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), for one last big job â€“ stealing goods from the three biggest farmers in the nearby town, Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guinness) and Bean (Michael Gambon). This plan, and its success, triggers the three farmers to deal with their fox friend and his family, therein putting all the wood lawn animals under siege and prompting Mr. Fox to be as fantastic as he can to rescue all the animals and get the farmers off of his back. With juggling all of this, Mr. Fox also finds himself at ends in his marriage and we get some Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox) goodness, which is always sweet. Some fun arcs keep the fluidity of the movie both digestible and add an appreciation to the supporting characters, so much so that it makes you feel that no animal was 'just there'. For example- there is Mr. Fox's son, Ash, who tries his best to prove to his parents that he's not 'different' and has his father's athletic abilities with his efforts getting challenged by the likes of his subtle, thunder-stealing cousin, Kristofferson (Eric Anderson).
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie as I didn't know what to expect. It delivers in so many ways from the beautifully illustrated environment,
the nuances of each animal and their respective voice actor, the humorous dialogue, the story and the surprise depth of the highlighted characters. It feels like the cast and the production crew had fun with making this movie and viewers always benefit when that happens since glee is contagious. When you realize how painstaking it must've been to add life and unique style to all the characters and make the movie not-feel-like-a-stop-motion-movie for the viewer, the whole mood gets even more relaxed and enjoyable.
George Clooney shines in his role as he brings enough cockiness and confidence to Mr. Fox as you'd expect from his stint as Danny Ocean. Wes Anderson doesn't abandon his favourite call guys either; Bill Murray and Owen Wilson both have fitting parts. Another great feature is how Wes blends the movie to appeal to both adults and kids. Its accessible world is engaging enough for the young and the wit in the dialogue is very rewarding for the adults, no one is alienated. Giving the villains the British grit adds another layer to it, especially when you remember Michael Gambon's role in Layer Cake.
If there's any way you can organize a group of friends to watch this gem, do so, they will be very thankful for it and the flurry of inside jokes your group would gain is priceless.
Standout Line: "He gets a bandit hat? He just got here and he got a bandit hat? Where's my Bandit hat? Why didn't I get shot at!?"