Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson has gone the stop-motion animation route for Roald Dahl’s story of Mr. Fox. George Clooney heads an all-star voice cast as the titular character, a man/fox who is unsatisfied with the drudgery of family life, living safely underground and merely paying the bills as a newspaper columnist. So, he moves the family into a conspicuous luxury treehouse near the intersection of three mean farmers—Boggis, Bunce and Bean—and gives into the temptation to return to his wild nature by poaching poultry and produce from his dangerous new neighbors. This naturally leads to big problems for him and his family as well as the rest of the wild critters in the area. The visuals are wonderful, with a rustic tone set amid real, small-scale vegetation and an orangey harvest hue that permeates much of the film. The detailed manipulation of the tiny puppets—down to the irritated fluttering of a fox’s ear—is mind-boggling, and when coupled with the actors’ sweet characterizations, and the individual quirks of the animals makes for seamless and pretty irresistible fun. Tinseltown. Rated PG