Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 British/American
stop-motion animated film based on the
Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name.
Produced by
Regency Enterprises and
Indian Paintbrush, and released in the autumn of 2009, the film features the voices of
George Clooney,
Meryl Streep,
Jason Schwartzman, and
Bill Murray. For director
Wes Anderson it was his first animated film and first film adaptation.
Development on the project began in 2004 as collaboration between Anderson and
Henry Selick (who worked with Anderson on the 2004 film
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) under
Revolution Studios. In 2007 Revolution folded, Selick left to direct
Coraline, and work on the film moved to
20th Century Fox. Production began in
London in 2007.
Plot
While raiding a
squab farm, Mr. Fox (
George Clooney) and his wife Felicity (
Meryl Streep) trigger a fox trap and become caged. Felicity reveals to Fox that she is pregnant and pleads with him to find a safer job should they escape.
Two years later (12 in Fox Years), the Foxes and their sullen son Ash (
Jason Schwartzman), are living in a hole. Fox, now a newspaper columnist, moves the family into a better home in the base of a tree, ignoring the warnings of his lawyer Badger (
Bill Murray). The tree is located very close to facilities run by farmers Walter Boggis (
Robin Hurlstone), Nathan Bunce (
Hugo Guinness), and Franklin Bean (
Michael Gambon). Soon after the Foxes move in, Felicity's nephew Kristofferson (
Eric Chase Anderson) comes to live...
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