Fantastic Mr. Fox

Voice Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Eric Anderson, Juman Malouf, Michael Gambon, Robin Hurlstone, Hugo Guinness, Willem Dafoe, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jarvis Cocker, Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson, Karen Duffy, Brian Cox, Adrien Brody, Mario Batali …

Written by: Roald Dahl (book); Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach (screenplay)

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Genre: Wes Anderson is his own genre, as is Dahl. IMDb says “Animation/Adventure/Comedy”

Running Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Released: October 14, 2009

MPAA Rating: PG

Side note

One of my favorites. I love Wes Anderson, and, as you know, I love Adrien Brody. When they work together, it’s like Heaven on Earth for me. Adrien had a simple voice cameo in this one, but I wanted to include it anyway.

Synopsis

Mr. Fox (no first name) is a reformed thief, who now writes a newspaper column. His desire for a better life for his family leads him back to his old ways. It’s your classic “one last score” type story, but from a stop-motion animation, family-friendly angle. Based on the book of the same name by Roald Dahl.

Adrien’s Role: Field Mouse

Rickety, as is apparently his name (according to the Internet), is a field mouse tailor. He appears throughout the underground “unifying of species” sequences, but first speaks during the Latin names scene (video below).

He appears once more, letting out a battle cry as the animals emerge one by one from a manhole cover, as decoys for Mr. Fox. We don’t see him again (at least, I’ve never been able to find him). So, it can be inferred Rickety fell in battle. Which, sadly, makes sense, because he’s super tiny.

In Closing

This film is just a joy. Star-studded voice cast, charming story, Andersonian quirks, stunning visuals. I highly recommend it.

Trailer

Scores

Movie Overall: 7.5/10

Brody Performance: Can’t really rate it, but it fills me with a 9/10 level of joy.