Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
★★½ — Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
My kid barely looked up from their toys. That's not a throwaway anecdote, that's a verdict. We sat down to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox together, and within twenty minutes I was the only one paying attention. And honestly? I'm not sure I was fully sold either.
I know, I know. I get the appeal, I really do. Wes Anderson's stop-motion aesthetic is genuinely distinctive, the kind of thing you could screengrab at any moment and hang on a wall. The autumnal colour palette, the symmetrical compositions, the meticulously crafted miniature world. It's all very... considered. The voice cast is stacked. The whole thing carries the weight of critical goodwill like a badge of honour. And yet, sitting there watching it, I kept waiting for something to actually grab me. It never quite did.
The problem, for me, is that style and warmth are not the same thing. Anderson has the former in buckets, but Fantastic Mr. Fox left me strangely cold. The dialogue is dry and clipped, full of knowing wit and deadpan delivery, which works brilliantly when Anderson's making films for adults. But this is supposedly a family film, adapted from a Roald Dahl book that kids genuinely love. And I think there's a real tension there that the film never resolves. The humour is pitched at people who appreciate mild, ironic understatement, which is a perfectly valid audience, just not the one sitting on the sofa next to me pulling a toy apart.
The pacing is deliberate to a fault, too. There's a kind of stateliness to it all, scenes breathing at their own unhurried rhythm, which again, fine in theory. But it means the film never really builds momentum. It ambles. Whimsy is one thing, but whimsy without propulsion starts to feel like treading water in a very attractively designed swimming pool.
I've enjoyed Anderson's work elsewhere. The Grand Budapest Hotel clicked for me in a way this didn't, maybe because it wasn't trying to straddle two audiences at once. When he's making something unapologetically for grown-ups, his particular brand of controlled eccentricity has room to breathe and pay off. Here, I think the attempt to make something family-friendly actually constrains him, while simultaneously making something that doesn't work especially well for families. It's caught between two stools.
None of this means it's badly made. It isn't. The craft is evident in every frame. The stop-motion work alone represents an enormous amount of painstaking effort, and there are moments where the visuals genuinely delight. I can see why so many people love it. Taste is a funny thing, and I'm not standing here telling you you're wrong for adoring it.
But for me, stripped of the acclaim and the aesthetic reputation, what's left is an average kids' film that isn't especially engaging for actual kids. The emperor's outfit is very nicely stitched. I'm just not entirely convinced he's wearing it.
Two and a half stars.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2009 | Watched: 2025-07-20
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Disney Plus · Sky Go · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Wes Anderson: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
More with George Clooney: Gravity (2013) · Batman & Robin (1997) · Burn After Reading (2008) · From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
