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52 [Rec] 2
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox reviews
83
7.9 User Score:

Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Animation  |  Comedy

Written by: Wes Anderson
Noah Baumbach

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Release Date:
Theatrical: November 13, 2009
DVD: March 23, 2010

Running Time: 87 minutes, Color

Origin: USA | UK

Summary

RATING: PG for action, smoking and slang humor

Starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Jarvis Cocker

Mr. and Mrs. Fox live an idyllic home life with their son Ash and visiting young nephew Kristopherson. But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers - Boggis, Bunce and Bean - who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr. Fox at any cost. (20th Century Fox)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Village Voice Scott Foundas

For the reportedly painstaking labor it took to create, the film is a marvel to behold--with wonderful shifts in perspective, an intensely tactile design, and an intentional herky-jerkiness of motion that only enriches the make-believe atmosphere.

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100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

With its virtuoso tomfoolery, Fantastic Mr. Fox is like a homegrown Wallace and Gromit caper. To Wes Anderson: More, please!

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100

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Anderson has pulled off the most elusive of goals: He's made a nonchalant masterpiece, a movie that feels dog-eared and loved before it's even reached our hands.

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100

Slate Dana Stevens

You don't want to watch this movie, you want to climb inside it and play.

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100

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Witty and wonderful, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the perfect Thanksgiving entertainment.

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100

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The result is an instant classic. The material allows Anderson to neutralize the most irritating aspects of his work (the precociousness, the sense of white-bread privilege) and maximize the most endearing (the comic timing, the dollhouse ordering of invented worlds).

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90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A pleasantly cerebral experience, exhilarating and fizzy, that goes to your head like too much Champagne.

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90

The New York Times A.O. Scott

In some ways his (Anderson) most fully realized and satisfying film. Once you adjust to its stop-and-start rhythms and its scruffy looks, you can appreciate its wit, its beauty and the sly gravity of its emotional undercurrents.

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90

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A captivating entertainment for the holiday season and well beyond.

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90

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Anderson has created a world as stylized and inventive as anything he's done... "Fox" is a visual delight.

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90

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Endlessly enchanting.

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89

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

This is an animated film that happily has room for both an existentialist dread of death and a grinning joie de vivre.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

These animals aren't catering to anyone in the audience. We get the feeling they're intensely leading their own lives without slowing down for ours.

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88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

An adventure in pure imagination that plays to the smart kid in all of us.

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88

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Staff (Not credited)

Most of all, it’s a magical feat, one that turns puppets into personalities and an English meadow into Anderson’s world.

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88

Boston Globe Ty Burr

By forgoing actual human beings, the director has made his most charming, least annoyingly fey film - a thing of lovely comic wisdom.

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88

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A gorgeous and witty piece of stop-motion animation.

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83

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Has its pleasures, foremost being its look – a sophisticated puppet primitivism backdropped by near-psychedelic colorations.

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83

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

For all the ostensible immaturity of its form, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the most grown-up thing the director has done in years.

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80

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The result is a visual treasure that successfully blends deadpan quirkiness with a wry realism rarely seen in any film, let alone one for children.

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80

Empire Ian Nathan

Genuinely original: a silly, hilarious and oddly profound adaptation for adult-sized children.

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80

Variety Todd McCarthy

The film's style, paradoxically both precious and rough-hewn, positions this as the season's defiantly anti-CGI toon, and its retro charms will likely appeal more strongly to grown-ups than to moppets; it's a picture for people who would rather drive a 1953 Jaguar XK 120 than a new one.

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75

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

This is no more a kids’ movie for kids than "Where The Wild Things Are"; it’s a film strictly for Wes Anderson fans of all ages. By now, they should know who they are.

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75

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's an intriguing match of material and filmmaker. Dahl's distinctive, edgy storytelling seems to fit well with Anderson's idiosyncratic worldview and visuals.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

Anderson injects such charm and wit, such personality and nostalgia - evident in the old-school animation, storybook settings and pitch-perfect use of Burl Ives - that it's easy to forgive his self-conscious touches.

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75

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Fantastic Mr. Fox imparts lessons as profound as "The Road's" about love and gratitude and awareness of others. It just has more fun doing it.

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75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

If there's an argument against the film (and, admittedly, it's not much of an argument), it's that the movie may not be suitably childish to appeal to younger viewers.

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75

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Mr. Fox's old-fashioned, hand-crafted animation is one of its main attractions. Another is Anderson's whimsical, dry humor, a natural for this tale of a crafty, dapper fox.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The tale may be Dahl's, but there's a whole new wag to it – this is decidedly, weirdly and, at best, wonderfully a Wes Anderson movie.

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75

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

Even though it's right there in the title, "fantastic" might be a touch hyperbolic in describing director Wes Anderson's stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but only by a whisker.

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63

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

I’m flummoxed as to why the movie left me feeling up in the air, as opposed to over the moon. Partly, I think, it’s a matter of how Anderson’s sense of humor rubs up against that of the book’s author, Roald Dahl.

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60

Time Out New York Keith Uhlich

It’s unfortunate that the result is so unaffecting, especially in light of all the things the director does right.

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20

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

The animals are often caught in a stare as if they, too, are looking for the tale that Anderson forgot.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 114 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ben T gave it a10:
This movie is incredible, its not going to cater to you with easy jokes and physical humor, but its hilarious. Dont be fooled by the blowhards below me, watch this movie immediately.

m1 gave it a9:
Finally, a non-3D animated film! I don't mind 3D animated films in general; they're actually one of my few preferences for the use of 3D. But the old fashioned method of Fantastic Mr. Fox's animation was riveting and colorful. Wes Anderson added humor and surprising tension to draw you into these characters and feel sympathy for them. Despite the unnecessary drug content, this movie is highly recommended and should have won Best Animated Film.

Phillip J. gave it a10:
The humour is outstanding and the style superb. The brilliance of it can miss those not looking for it. It shouldn't be taken as a book adaption or a genre-defined movie. The realism of the closeness to the averageness of it is what drives Mr. Fox to look for a way out of the dull life he is in. There are many deep emotional levels that appeal to the heart of human nature and the dark side of business as seen by nature. Some things seem underplayed, but the story is solid. Don't go looking for something that makes you laugh every second especially if you have a close-mind. This movie is 50% opinion and 50% art.

Craig M gave it a10:
I absolutely adored this movie. Easily one of my favorites so far this year. I don't really think too many people will end up watching it, but I highly recommend it to anyone. Well, anyone with a decent sense of humour at least.

John J. gave it a9:
I'm not understanding the harsh criticism this film is getting from some people on here. "unwatchable", "worst attempt at film making...", "boring boring boring dumb". Well-crafted and witty films like this restore my faith in Hollywood after being clubbed over the head with productions like Avatar. Perhaps that's what's wrong with the aforementioned 'reviewers', they've subjected themselves to too many low-brow cinematic beatdowns that they can't identify talented filmmaking when it's presented to them in a subtle and sophisticated fashion.

Dan F gave it a9:
Divisive film. Wow. I love this movie and can't wait to get it on DVD. I'm a huge fan of Wes Anderson films, and it's a pleasure to have one that's completely innocent (with brilliant uses of the word "cuss"). I suppose if you're used to Disney and all the other movies produced in the same vein, this may come off poorly. However, if you watch carefully, there are scores of clever and charming moments that made me laugh out loud. Like a good meal or a quality album, this takes a little more thought to enjoy than say, your typical summer blockbuster. Thank goodness for dry humor. I watched this with my parents, who I thought would not enjoy the film. They loved it almost as much as I did, and with good reason. It's a lovely film, and beautiful (with great use of Helvetica all over the place). I enjoyed the characters and the dilemma. Another plus: Wes Anderson seems to understand that PG doesn't have to mean "kids movie." See this and pay careful attention - you'll be rewarded.

Matt A gave it a9:
It's hard for me to explain why i loved this movie so much. Maybe it was its beautiful art style. Maybe it was because of its fast paced structure? Maybe it was because of its subtle off-beat humor? I think it was its capability to blend all of the these aspects together into a full cohesive experience that was enjoyable on so many levels. I don't have any kids, and don't know if they would find this movie to be fun or funny... but I... a 22 year old man... found it to be completely fulfilling and it greatly surpassed my expectations.

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