Fantastic Mr Fox

I don't know whether this s Roald Dahl, having never read the book, but it most definitely IS Wes Anderson. Anyone who ever wondered what an animated film directed by him would be like now has their answer. It's *exactly* as you imagined it would be. If you close your eyes, it could be another of his live action films. In fact, I enjoyed it far more than either of his previous two movies, which seemed to be getting ever more candy-coloured and whimsical but far less involving than the glorious Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums (and I'm still halfway convinced that the key ingredient there was Owen Wilson as co-writer) Fantastic Mr Fox ticks most of the usual Anderson boxes: dysfunctional families; awkward father/son relationships; wacky sight gags; leftfield choice of music (the Beach Boys!); and a truly alarming attention to detail. The stop motion has an endearing rough and ready feel, with slightly jerky motion and bristling fur (think the original King Kong) But unlike Nick Park's films, you never get a sense that this is England. No matter how many Heath Robinson-esque contraptions surround Wallace and Gromit, you always feel that you're in some hidden corner of Yorkshire. Fantastic Mr Fox doesn't seem to exist anywhere in particular. Some of the settings might remind you of the English countryside but what to make then of the bizarre appearance of the wolf in front of snowy mountains at the end? There's also the accents (the animals seem to all be American while the farmers are British) and the music (not at all pastoral) One set-piece is even filmed and scored in the style of a spaghetti Western. However, it is still very enjoyable though I suspect moreso for fans of Anderson than of Dahl.