Fantastic Mr. Fox started life as a book by Roald Dahl, one I have not read.

In this stop motion adaptation the cast are a number of big names, starting with the titular Mr. Fox (George Clooney) whose wife (Meryl Streep) makes him promise to give up stealing fowl for a living and find a safer profession.

A few years pass and the Fox family, now including a son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman) are living a reasonably happy but frugal life, except for Mr. Fox who is chafing against the lack of excitement of being a writer for a local paper. He heads out to find a new, bigger home for the family, introducing his lawyer, Badger (Bill Murray) and the supervisor Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky). Shortly afterwards Ash's cousin Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson ) arrives.

The new house is on the edge of the territory of three farmers, Bean (Michael Gambon), Boggis (Robin Hurlstone) and Bunce (Hugo Guinness). Needless to say the temptation of these is enough to make Mr. Fox revert to his old ways which lands everyone in a good deal of trouble.

The casting is very good, with Clooney and Gambon standing out in particular. The film is in slightly quirky stop motion which sometimes feels a little odd but quickly starts to fit with the character of the film. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the close-ups during dialog which were a bit too close for comfort (a head filling practically the whole screen) but which would probably be fine on the small screen.

The humour throughout was quirky and enjoyable, much of it carried through straight from Dahl I suspect. In a way seeing this after 9 (the film) served to show up that 9 was a little thin in places.

Based on the Roald Dahl novel of the same name the film follows the antics of the titular Mr Fox who has moved into the neighbour hood of the 3 biggest farmers Boggiss Bunce and Bean and I quote “one fat one short one lean. These horrible crooks, So different in looks, Were none the less equally mean.” the farmers plot to have their revenge against Mr Fox. Done in a distinctive stop motion style the film features plenty of action and comedy with a superb voice cast. Clooney and Streep are excellent as Mr and Mrs Fox and the supporting cast like Bill Murray as Badger and Micheal Gambon as the Dastardly Bean make the characters come to life.

The models are interesting the evil farmer are on the edge of grotesque. The animals are well done and the whole style of animation is interesting with full motion one moment cut action another. It has a habit of shifting perspectives using various tricks to achieve various effects. It's very playful in it's execution.

It's full of great comedic moments as Mr Fox goes about his capers and the farmers try and stop him. The artistic style can be a touch surreal but then the story is a bit like that with talking animals who have jobs act as lawyers or real estate agents. It's a wonderful fantasy world that draws you in to tell it's story.

Good fun and well worth a look see.