Raimius is our resident movie reviewer. These are his words and his words alone. More reviews can be found on his site, http://www.raimiusreviews.com

After seeing all but one of Wes Anderson’s films (God, I really, really need to see Rushmore), he has quickly become one of my favorite directors. His dark comedy and the fact that you need to see all of his movies again as soon as they end lets you know that he is incredible. Now, with his first animated children’s movie, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, I can see him successfully going in this direction if he so chooses. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of the best children’s movies I have ever seen and it proves that there is still room for fresh, new ideas in the genre.

The story revolves around Mr. Fox. After wanting something more out of his life than living in a hole, he moves into a tree that is directly across from three bad farmers. Going back to his old, mischievous ways he starts to steal food and drink from the farmers. The farmers catch this and decide it is time for Mr. Fox to die. The ramifications of Mr. Fox’s actions affect many different animals and they all have to team up to beat these three farmers. This story is based off of a Roald Dahl book. He is best known for writing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but all of his novels have been beloved children’s classics. Having never read the book, I came into this movie with a fresh mind. The story and the scheming that Mr. Fox makes for an entertaining ride no matter how old you are. Even the main side story is really well done. This involves Mr. Fox’s son, and his nephew that comes to live with them for a while. The rivalry between the two starts fast and doesn’t let up for most of the movie. This is another story that can connect with both children and adults and makes for a great secondary conflict. The story is one of the most loved stories in all of children’s literature and the movie does nothing to even slightly detract from that.

One thing that can really detract from a non-live action movie is bad voice acting. Fortunately, Fantastic Mr. Fox has amazing actors who do all the voices very well. George Clooney as Mr. Fox is amazing in itself. The way he talks fast and yet still understandable makes for great moments. His co-star, Meryl Streep also does an amazing job as his wife, and the supporting cast has some huge names that always bring the best to the table. Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and many others come together to make an ensemble that blew me away with their talent. When you have a cast like this together it is hard to go wrong, and Fantastic Mr. Fox shows this spectacularly. One man that does an amazing job in particular is Michael Gambon. He plays the main bad guy farmer in the film and his voice is perfect for the role. Another great addition was Willem Dafoe as the rat. You couldn’t even tell it was him for the entire movie and his accent was spot-on for his character. All of the voice actors do a great job and there was never a moment where I disbelieved anything from them.

Of course, this would all be void if the movie did not entertain. A great story and voice acting is amazing, but, especially in a children’s movie, there needs to be plenty of entertainment. I am not even remotely kidding when I say this: The Fantastic Mr. Fox is frequently hilarious and entertaining throughout. One thing that I love about this movie is that every joke is something that any age can appreciate. A lot of children’s movies these days have some adult humor to appeal to an older audience as well. What sets Fantastic Mr. Fox apart from these movies is that there is no real adult humor. The jokes are genuinely funny without having to have knowledge of adult situations. The parts that I laughed at were the same parts that my 11 year old sister laughed at, and I thought that was wonderful. The humor can appeal to every audience member. The capers are equally as fun to watch and make for great times. Everytime Mr. Fox and crew stealthily went into one of the farmer’s chicken coop, houses, etc. I was thoroughly entertained. The action was fun, the humor was amazing, and it was just a fun hour and a half.

One aspect I felt was really incredible and well done was the animation style. You rarely see stop-motion animation anymore, and probably for good reason. Stop-motion may not appeal to a lot of viewers, and it is a very hard, expensive, and time consuming way to animate. The place where Fantastic Mr. Fox can easily fail is where it shines the best. This movie is a movie unlike any you have ever seen before. The attention to detail astounds me. Every stitch in clothing and every hair on the animals were carefully handcrafted by, in my opinion, a master team of artists. For some people, the animation itself may take some getting used to, but for me it always flowed perfectly. Every movement is taken care of in a special way and there is an astounding amount in some scenes. They even pulled off close-ups of the characters very well. Of course, with each movement it would be impossible for every hair to stay in place, so they moved all the time, but this worked. I always felt there was a slight breeze blowing through the character’s hair, and it didn’t detract from the experience at all. The sets are amazing and beautiful as well. Again, the attention to detail in unlike anything ever done before. The visuals have to be seen to be believed.

Wes Anderson has done it again with an entertaining, funny, charming family adventure. If he only did animated children’s films from now, I honestly would not complain. Fantastic Mr. Fox is the children’s movie for a new generation of movie goers, and just as its title suggests, it is fantastic.