Fantastic Mr. Fox

Idiosyncratic filmmaker Wes Anderson has created a droll, delightful, stop-motion animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's bestselling children's book about an audacious, stubborn fox who refuses to stop stealing chickens from infuriated farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Explaining his impulses to his wife, the suave Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) says simply, “I'm a wild animal.” Eventually, he and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep), their angst-ridden teenage son (Jason Schwartzman), a visiting cousin (Eric Anderson), and friends (Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky), flee from the human predators—but not before plenty of playful hen-house heists. Anderson supervised animation director Mark Gustafson, production designer Nelson Lowry, and cinematographer Tristan Oliver to create the stop-motion work, and teamed up with co-writer Noah Baumbach to expand Dahl's story by intensifying the distinctive personalities, rivalries, and dysfunctional relationships, as well as adding new characters. Sly and smartly paced, this Oscar-nominated family film will appeal to adults as much as kids. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “From Script to Screen” featurette (7 min.), a “Still Life” puppet animation featurette (7 min.), “A Beginner's Guide to Whack-Bat” instructional video (2 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a “Making Mr. Fox Fantastic” featurette, which combines the previous featurettes with “The Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Puppet Makers,” and “The Cast, Bill and His Badger” (45 min.), “The World of Roald Dahl” featurette (3 min.), and DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a winning animated film.] (S. Granger)[Blu-ray/DVD Combo Review—Feb. 11, 2014—Criterion, 3 discs, 87 min., PG, $39.95—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 2009's Fantastic Mr. Fox sports a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary by director Wes Anderson, a full storyboard animatic version of the film (75 min.), the 2005 documentary “Fantastic Mr. Dahl” on author Roald Dahl (62 min.), Dahl's audio reading of the story (53 min.), various publicity featurettes (42 min. total), “making-of” featurettes (34 min. total), discussion and analysis of the film (12 min. total), brief awards speeches (4 min. total), a “Witches Tree” segment with Dahl (2 min.), a brief stop-motion commercial by Anderson, galleries of set photography by animator Ray Lewis and of Dahl's original manuscripts, and a booklet that includes an essay by critic Erica Wagner, a 2002 article on Dahl's Gipsy House by Anderson, a “White Cape” comic book used as a prop, and drawings and original paintings. Bottom line: a wealth of wonderful extras for a delightful film.]