SYNOPSIS

A wily fox can't resist returning to his habits of stealing from the farm and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.

CINDIE SAYS:

Anderson’s love for Roald Dahl’s original book shines through in the film. The director even spent time at Dahl’s estate, Gipsy House, while writing the screenplay. While the film expands significantly on Dahl’s relatively short book, it remains true to its spirit.

Anderson brought his distinctive aesthetic to Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was his first animated film, but Anderson applied the same obsessive attention to detail as he did in his live-action projects. From hand-crafted puppets to miniature sets, every frame of the film feels like a living diorama.

He was inspired by the tactile quality of the 1970s stop-motion holiday specials, as well as the works of Czech animator Jiří Trnka. Anderson’s aim was to create a film that felt handmade, rejecting the slick perfection of computer-generated animation in favor of something with texture and imperfection—qualities that feel inherently “human.”

Instead of recording in a traditional sound studio, Anderson took his actors to real-world locations to capture authentic performances. One memorable anecdote involves Anderson and his team recording dialogue on a farm. George Clooney reportedly crawled through dirt and hay to deliver his lines as naturally as possible.