Wes Anderson is a director with a quirky world view.  When Rushmore debuted in 1996 with its quirky attitude on character, dialogue and story, it felt like a witty breath of fresh air.  But, with each subsequent film, Anderson’s quirk became less charming and challenging and felt more like mere affectation and a distraction from any truth behind his character’s journeys.

With Fantastic Mr Fox, an adaptation of a Raold Dahl book,  Anderson has finally found a story, a collection of characters, and a particular way of cinematically telling the story that is a perfect match to his own odd world view.  Who knew that stop motion animation would seem to be the medium Anderson was born to work in?

The film tells the story of a fox, Mr Fox, a smart, sophisticated, urbane poultry thief who gives up his dangerous ways for marriage and family and settles into an unsatisfying domestic life as a columnist, husband and father.  But Fox eventually finds this life dull and wants to move out of his boring literal “hole in the ground” to a home in a more upscale residence in a “tree with a view.”  Against the advice of his Badger lawyer, he takes up residence in a tree with a spectacular view of three farms which are overflowing with chickens, cider and turkey. These seductive reminders of the thrills of his former career are too much for him to resist and he puts his family, his home and his entire community of woodland creatures into the cross hairs of the farm owners, the delightfully evil Boggis, Bunce and Bean.

One of the quirks of Anderson’s films is a particular style of art direction and costume design that seems to  float in a weird hard to place time continuum.  The fashions, technology, architecture, interiors and even the character’s interests feel old fashioned, modernist, and hiply new all at the same time.  This visual atmosphere is completely captured by the stop motion technique, and the character design that seem lifted from a 1970’s Rankin/Bass Christmas special and yet have a completely edgy independent voice that is very much rooted in our current sensibilities.  The animals exude marvelous charm and wonderfully individualized personalities.  The sets are perfect and all the more fascinating  because of the awareness that these are kind of elaborate dollhouses built on a massive scale for Anderson and company to play around in.

The voice acting is pitch perfect.  George Clooney exudes that modern Cary Grant charm of his even when it’s all coming from a 12 inch fake fur fox.  Meryl Streep’s long suffering wife is just another in a long line of great roles for her.  It is Jason Schwartzman though, a longtime collaborator of Anderson, who is the real scene stealer as the insecure jealous Ash, Mr Fox’s diminutive son who must compete for his father’s attention against the perfection, good looks and athleticism of his visiting cousin, Kristofferson.

Fantastic Mr Fox is a complete delight.  Fascinating, compelling, rich and a wonderful match of filmmaker, medium, character and story.  A