Reviews
Empire Magazine
Ian Nathan
“There’s a sublime marriage here of script and technique. George Clooney’s Mr. Fox is smarmy both in the actor’s unhurried delivery of his mid-life crisis and in silky texture, while Meryl Streep’s Mrs. Fox has a softness both in her sighing over a luckless marriage and in her orangeade-coloured fur that stands on end when her husband’s braggadocio leads this menagerie of Wind In The Willows drop-outs into a succession of jams. It may be slight as a feather (a quality Anderson holds dear) and vexing for Dahl purists, but for a film so outwardly bonkers, it works like a dream.”
16/02/2010
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“In Fantastic Mr Fox, the world itself seems just a little bit weird, but gloriously so. Ash's bedroom has a tremendous toy train, which looks for all intents and purposes precisely like the real train we see periodically beetling across the landscape. This is a cosmos crying out to be played with and enjoyed.”
22/10/2009
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The Independent on Sunday
Nicholas Barber
“But once you accept Fantastic Mr Fox for what it is – a Wes Anderson product – it's an effervescent, silly, continually surprising treat. I enjoyed hearing a new Jarvis Cocker ditty performed by a Cocker-lookalike puppet, and I enjoyed it when Farmer Bean (voiced by Michael Gambon) then chastised him for "weak songwriting".”
25/10/2009
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The Observer
Philip French
“In 1967, Roald Dahl scripted the fifth Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, which opens with a disturbing comic scene of an American space capsule being swallowed in orbit by Ernst Blofeld's giant spacecraft that opens up at the front like a shark's jaws. This is a black joke about the food chain and the survival of the fittest and his Mr Fox is part of this process. Anderson adds a coda to Fantastic Mr Fox that softens and domesticates Dahl's ending. He removes Fox from his natural world red in tooth and claw and makes him an urban creature targeting supermarkets.”
25/10/2009
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The Scotsman
Alistair Harkness
“This seems as fresh and as cinematically liberating as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums did when they first emerged in cinemas, and in what has been another fairly strong year for animation, this just edges ahead of the competition for sheer originality, confidence and kooky brilliance.”
23/10/2009
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Time Out
Dave Calhoun
“The loving, handmade, purist look of the film, reminiscent of Gondry’s ‘The Science of Sleep’, sees towelling as fields, cellophane as water and cotton wool as smoke, and will probably excite adults more than their kids who will be more taken by the constant, active missions of the plot – elements that, in turn, grow a little tedious if you’re a grown-up.”
22/10/2008
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The Times
Kevin Maher
“Dahl purists will no doubt be offended, and younger children may be perplexed by the introspective tone, but the film is worth seeing just for its bravura technique (which took 30 stop-frame animators at the 3 Mills Studios in London two solid years to achieve) and as proof that creative, smart- minded cartoons are not the preserve of Pixar alone.”
24/10/2009
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The New Statesman
Ryan Gilbey
“Audiences new to Anderson's work will be able to savour his trademark style, which is characterised by pedantic detail, snappy montages, symmetrical framing and more cross-sections than a geology textbook. For the rest of us, the picture provides further evidence that Anderson desperately needs to leave his comfort zone.”
22/10/2009
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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.”
14/10/2009
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The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
“I remember a time when parents had to suffer long, loud and tedious “kids’” films for the sake of their children. We parents sat in the dark, pretending to smile, faking laughter as we surreptitiously checked our watches. These days, with films such as Pixar’s Up and now Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, I fear it’s children who have to suffer “kids’” films for the sake of their parents.”
25/10/2009
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Total Film
Jonathan Dean
“It is entertainment, pure and simple, with enough adult gags (Willem Dafoe’s flick-knifed Rat) to keep the olds amused while kids smile at the Sylvanian Families cuteness. Fantastic Mr. Fox won’t change anybody’s life, but hasn’t its director done that already? Consider this a (painstakingly-crafted) breather.”
01/10/2009
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The Mirror
Mark Adams
“Whether it will appeal to kids is another matter as sophisticated, animationsavvy tykes are a pretty tough and discerning movie-viewers these days (To be honest I'm not even sure children are Anderson's target audience - he tends to make films for one person... himself).”
18/10/2009
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The Financial Times
Leo Robson
“Stop-motion aside, this is the same old Anderson fare, right down to the herbs and spices: the arch, indie-Brecht titles; the bathetic, indie-Pinter dialogue; the road-tested third-act gear-change (impudent comedy gives way to life lessons).”
21/10/2009
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Channel 4 Film
Ali Catterall
“This is a Wes Anderson joint first and foremost, with Dahl - and indeed Britain and Britishness - running an extremely poor second. Naturally, only those nasty old farmers have British voices, c/o Michael Gambon and Brian Cox, while even that most English of icons, Jarvis Cocker, contributes a forgettable bluegrass-style number. Turning AA Milne's creations into baffled little rednecks was bad enough. But dear old Foxy?”
16/02/2010
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