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Movie Overview
Director
• Wes Anderson
MPAA Rating
PG - for action, smoking and slang humor.
Theatrical Release
Nov 25, 2009 (Wide)
Nov 13, 2009 (Limited)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 92% Fresh
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"a fantastic adaptation that manages to surpass its source material while staying entirely true to its spirit."  Eye for Film  Anton Bitel

"Wes Anderson's first animated movie turns out to be one of 2009's best films."  ReelTalk Movie Reviews  Betty Jo Tucker

4.5/5
"...a wholly unique piece, a contemporized take on Dahl's 1970 book with as much interpersonal angst as kid-friendly fun."  PopMatters  Bill Gibron

A
"A breathtaking cinematic marvel; Anderson finds a magnificent home nestled firmly in the luxurious textures of the animation, the dancing vocal performances, and delicious wry tone that makes for stunningly fanciful cinema."  BrianOrndorf.com  Brian Orndorf

4.5/5
"It's like a treehouse for grownups..."  Filmcritic.com  Chris Barsanti

B+
"Anderson's lavish attention to visual detail supports the dry wit on display in a highly original animated film geared to appeal equally to adults and children."  ColeSmithey.com  Cole Smithey

"Intergenerational dilemmas -- how to be foxes, to be individuals and also parts of communities -- form the complicated heart of Fantastic Mr. Fox."  PopMatters  Cynthia Fuchs

4.5/5
"Writer-director Wes Anderson's movies are often loaded with cartoonish characters and situations. So, it would only make sense that his most enjoyable movie to date is an actual cartoon."  eFilmCritic.com  Dan Lybarger

3/4
"...a thoroughly agreeable piece of work..."  Reel Film Reviews  David Nusair

2/4
"A defibrillator could have only helped."  DustinPutman.com  Dustin Putman

A-
"Feels like the distillation of everything Anderson has ever done, boiled down to its barest essentials."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

2.5/4
"Wishing it was Chicken Run and never achieving the depth of Where The Wild Things Are, Anderson and Baumbach create a half-fun, half-humdrum affair that I'm sure they will enjoy watching over and over."  eFilmCritic.com  Erik Childress

3/4
"A treat for Anderson fans looking for something different..."  Cinema Crazed  Felix Vasquez Jr.

"Heartfelt, never less than pretty, and occasionally effulgent"  CinePassion  Fernando F. Croce

A-
"A toon that puts nearly every non-Pixar one of recent years to shame. In this case, the titular adjective is well chosen."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

4/5
"A delightful and very clever stop-motion animated screen adaptation of a Roald Dahl children's tale about a charming, smart and cunning fox and his quest to be true to his animal nature."  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

A+
"Anderson's most radical suggestion--and this isn't from Dahl--might be that, between animal rights and workers rights, there's little distinction."  Cinepinion  Henry Stewart

3/4
"While it might be a stretch to claim that Fantastic Mr. Fox is "fantastic," it's easily among the year's best animated features."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

3.5/4
"no longer does Anderson seem like a childish filmmaker trying desperately to be idiosyncratic and zany, but rather an adult filmmaker using a children's story to speak across generations"  Q Network Film Desk  James Kendrick

5/5
"Cool, clever, crafty and delirious amounts of fun, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is full of brilliant visual invention and silly slapstick while also having hip humor and sly smarts -- it's pure movie-going joy and a rare kind of pleasure."  MSN Movies  James Rocchi

8/10
"Une escapade réussie dans le domaine de l'animation pour le réalisateur qui aura su y reproduire cet univers chaleureux dans lequel il est toujours si agréable de se replonger"  Panorama  Jean-François Vandeuren

9/10
"I'm starting to wish every auteur would go and make his or her own stop-motion animated flick; what a fantastic experiment that could be."  Window to the Movies  Jeffrey Chen

"Parental Content Review"  Screen It!  Jim Judy

"Wes Anderson's idiosyncratic style and children's author Roald Dahl's cozy-yet-edgy imagination are a perfect fit in this enjoyable and altogether unusual movie experience."  ReelTalk Movie Reviews  John P. McCarthy

4/4
"The film incorporates all the quiet, improvisational style, dry humor delivery as found in other Anderson pictures, but combined with the proletarian fluidity of the animation; the result for audiences is a gleeful trance-like holiday."  Bangitout.com  Jordan Hiller

3/5
"Despite looking like a children's movie, I don't think kids would like it very much...softens Anderson's fetish for randomness and forces him to stay on track...his kooky brand of humor just works better as a cartoon"  Cinerina  Karina Montgomery

3/5
"At last, Anderson has made a film that is nothing but a succession of autumn-gold shoebox dioramas."  Time Out New York  Keith Uhlich

3.5/5
"An infectiously upbeat menagerie"  School Library Journal  Kent Turner

4.5/5
"Fans of either artist may not think that Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl could mate to make such a clever and intriguing film, but it works in a miraculous way."  7M Pictures  Kevin Carr

B+
"What sets "Mr. Fox" apart from the rest of the Anderson oeuvre, apart from the talking animals, is that Anderson's writing is glossed with some wry hardboiled noir and more than a few double entendres."  Reeling Reviews  Laura Clifford

"A sly, witty and utterly enchanting adaptation of Roald Dahl's mordantly whimsical book about a thoroughly domesticated gentleman fox who pines for days when the world respected his wildness."  Miss FlickChick  Maitland McDonagh

4/4
"The film has a renegade attitude but is also clearly respectful of the purpose of children's stories -- to entertain, to teach, to imagine -- and it's a joy to experience."  Mark Reviews Movies  Mark Dujsik

8/10
""Wit, grace, and charm" is a lyric for one of the songs in the film, but it could have been describing the film itself. Told with its breezy style, this could be the most charming film of the year."  rec.arts.movies.reviews  Mark R. Leeper

"[T]ouching and funny, and magically absurd and at the same time pointedly real... genius..."  Flick Filosopher  MaryAnn Johanson

1/5
"Critics galore are fawning over Anderson's move to animation. Why all the fuss? - the man's been staging puppet shows for years."  Film Threat  Matthew Sorrento

4.5/5
"Fantastic isn't a strong enough word for this vibrant, intelligent, hilarious film for all ages"  Goatdog's Movies  Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

B+
"Anderson's liveliest and most appealing movie...every shot filled with precise and intricate detail. This is movie-making as Cornell Box."  Beliefnet  Nell Minow

3/4
"Anderson prizes the funny over the profound to an extent that keeps the proceedings a tad too light and jovial to register as anything more than a lightweight aside to his more acute, earnest work."  Slant Magazine  Nick Schager

5/5
"One of the oddest family-oriented movies in recent memory--perhaps the first one to have its lead character simultaneously emblazoned on Happy Meal boxes and the cover of "Film Comment" and seem perfectly home in both places"  eFilmCritic.com  Peter Sobczynski

3.5/5
"If the message is a little simplistic, at least the film shows astounding visual innovation"  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline

5/5
"The style, like the theme, is poised gracefully between order and chaos."  eFilmCritic.com  Rob Gonsalves

B+
"Anderson maintains that all-important balance between adult sophistication and child-like simplicity."  Mania.com  Rob Vaux

B
"An animated film not aimed at children. It is as thought-provoking in its own way as is 'Animal Farm.'"  Laramie Movie Scope  Robert Roten

B+
"There is little or nothing here for young children and some may be frightened. All the better for us big kids who can appreciate wit and artisanship."  Reeling Reviews  Robin Clifford

4/5
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."  JWR  S. James Wegg

3/4
"Anderson has explored eccentric family dynamics %u2013 particularly those that exist between fathers and sons %u2013 in each of his films, and his philosophical insights are all over the precise ramblings of Fox and his motley crew."  Charlotte Weekly  Sean O'Connell

9/10
"Sly and smartly paced adaptation, perhaps appealing even more to an older audience than a younger one."  SSG Syndicate  Susan Granger

8/10
"It's given new life to a filmmaker who'd been getting a bit too ossified in his style and tics."  Antagony & Ecstasy  Tim Brayton

2/4
"Sure, Anderson's making a statement about the human animal, but he proves no Aesop and Fantastic Mr. Fox is, alas, no Animal Farm."  Film Freak Central  Walter Chaw

3.5/4
"An animated film with a small budget mentality."  Oscar Guy  Wesley Lovell
OFCS Rating: 92% Fresh
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