MOVIE REVIEW: Fantastic Mr. Fox (PG)

Roald Dahl is perhaps one of the most well known and loved children’s authors in the world. He’s also a writer synonymous with film, having written screenplays for the Bond film You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as writing several episodes for the infamous Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show. It's no surprise then that many of his books continue to be made into feature films, nearly twenty years after his death. The latest is from an unlikely source - maverick indie director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums; The Darjeeling Ltd) turns to stop-motion animation for an adaptation of Dahl’s 1970 book Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a charismatic but reckless animal who lives a quiet life as a writer, after leaving the dangerous job of stealing chickens when Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) fell pregnant. Growing restless, he pulls off one more ‘job’, stealing various poultry from the farms of Boggis, Bunce and Bean. However, he gets carried away and the farmers declare war, driving all the animals of their valley, including straight-laced Badger (Bill Murray) and Fox’s eccentric son Ash (Jason Schwartzmann), underground. With mouths to feed and lives to save, Fox must find a way to outsmart the farmers and not get killed in the process.

Anderson doesn’t compromise or patronise when talking to a younger audience - exactly the way Dahl wrote his books. He adopts the author’s principle of telling a PG story with the odd grizzly moment thrown in, and with Anderson directing a lot of the film the way he directs live action (‘mugshot’ camera shots, musical interludes) it’s a family film that’s still accessible. Making the characters American is a confusing choice for such an English story, but in star-obsessed Hollywood having recognisable voices was perhaps inevitable. Anderson’s script is very funny, and whilst some jokes miss the mark (the running ‘cuss’ joke grates after a while) on the whole it’s enough to keep young and old patrons chuckling throughout.

A big difficulty for lovers of the book will be Clooney’s titular role. This Mr. Fox is less heroic than the literary version, more a show off than a saviour, and personality wise is basically George Clooney with fur. It’s an interesting twist on the character, and it does work, but people looking for a faithful big screen version will not find it here. There is some inspired casting elsewhere, with Murray’s Badger a real delight. Brit actor Michael Gambon (Dumbledore to you ‘Harry Potter’ fans) is great as Bean, turning his normally soft tones into something all the more menacing. One feels Meryl Streep was added just so that they can put her name on the poster, but she delivers a solid performance for such a slight supporting role.

All in all, this re-telling shifts many aspects of the book, making it a typical Wes Anderson film, but without sacrificing the heart of the story. It may seem a little low-tech in these days of Pixar and Dreamworks, and Dahl purists may leave feeling a little let down, but thanks to a clever script and charming voice performances this entertaining film has just the right amount of animal magic.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is released October 23.