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

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 87% 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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

"[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

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. And it's a thoroughly engaging place to spend 90 minutes."  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline

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

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

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

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

5/5
"This is about as quote-unquote fantastic as it gets."  Orlando Weekly  William Goss
OFCS Rating: 87% Fresh
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