Fantastic Mr. Fox

I first saw the trailer for the Fantastic Mr. Fox in the theater in 2009. I fell in love with the look and feel of the animation, but when the movie actually released I was in the midst of preparing to move across the country. The story of Mr. Fox fell off my personal radar until it released on HBO this past fall. I stumbled upon it one afternoon and absolutely adored it. The stop-motion animation is beautifully done, and the story is fantastic. It’s appropriate for children, but there are enough adult jokes to appeal to all ages. If you haven’t seen it you should definitely check it out.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but until I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox I’d never heard of Roald Dahl. I mean, I’m sure I probably saw his name somewhere in the credits for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or Matilda, but it never registered. Now that I know who this amazing author is, I just might have to read everything he’s ever written. In addition to a number of classic children’s books, he’s written short stories for adults, some of which were filmed for Alfred Hitchcock Presents (I’m also a Hitchcock fan). He also has a pretty interesting history, and was a Flying Ace for the Royal Air Force during WWII.

For more info on Roald Dahl and Fantastic Mr. Fox, check out this wikipedia article, and these Making Of shorts about the movie. The one I’ve embedded after the jump includes a visit to Dahl’s house and talks about how director Wes Anderson actually duplicated Dahl’s furniture in miniature for the film. There is also a “Making Of” book that looks really cool too.

1 Comment

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

ttj90
May 28, 2011 at 10:38 am

I just stopped by because apparently, we use the same theme. Then i noticed that you’d never heard of Roald Dahl?!?! That I struggle to believe. George’s Marvelous Medicine was my favourite.