For the next three months, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be watching cozy, mysterious, or comfy movies. Erin made these awesome graphics detailing what we are doing and what movies we will be watching.

This week we had a double-feature.

Today we are writing about Fantastic Mr. Fox and Thursday we are writing about The Secret World of Arrietty.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox, released in 2009, is a stop-motion animation movie directed by Wes Anderson.

I don’t know much about Wes Anderson but I’ve heard his movies are always a bit weird. This one is no exception, but it isn’t the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen. It’s weird but the animation and direction are amazing.

The movie is based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name. Anderson signed on for the project because he said Dahl was a hero of his. He even made the scenery look like Dahl’s hometown of Great Missenden.

The kids and I cuddled up in cool fall weather (even though today is supposed to be close to 80. Grrr) to watch it last night.

Mr. Fox is voiced by George Clooney.

He is a former bird thief whose wife has asked him to turn his life around so now he writes a column for a newspaper, which I know firsthand is not a lucrative job.

Despite that, he purchases a house above the ground in a tree. This tree is close to three very mean farmers – Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.  One farms chickens, the other geese, and the third turkeys.

Mr. Fox is feeling a bit antsy in his newspaper job (again – firsthand experience with this right here) and decides he needs some excitement. He concocts a plan to pull off a bird heist at each of the farms, despite being warned about how dangerous the farmers are.

He enlists the help of a new clueless opossum friend named Kylie, who isn’t the best sidekick for a dangerous heist, but was one of our favorite characters (“Apple juice. A flood of apple juice.”)

There are a ton of big name voices characters in this one: Clooney, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, Owen Wilson, Willem Defoe, Bill Murray, Michael Gabon, Jason Schwartzman, and Anderson himself.

In between Mr. Fox’s story of wanting to experience the thrill of the steal, if you will, is an underlying story of how his son feels left out and inferior to his cousin Kristoffersen.

Then it all comes to a heart-pounding climax when the farmers join together to take Mr. Fox and his family – and subsequently other animals underground – out.

According to Wikipedia: “Fantastic Mr. Fox premiered as the opening film of the 53rd edition of the London Film Festival on October 14, 2009, and was released in the United States on November 13, to critical acclaim, with praise for Anderson’s direction, humor, and stop-motion animation. However, it underperformed at the box office, grossing just $46.5 million against a $40 million budget. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.”

Anderson did add some to the movie that was different from the book, with the second act being mainly from the book.

The movie for the music, which is fun and quirky, was composed by Alexandre Desplat.

The kids and I really liked the film, even if I was so nervous about what was going to happen in the end. It was quirky, funny, and very creative.

I’m glad Erin suggested this one.

If you want to read Erin’s take on the film you can visit her blog here:https://crackercrumblife.com/2023/09/12/comfy-cozy-cinema-fantastic-mr-fox/

Coming up next is the Studio Ghibli film The Secret World of Arrietty which we will write about Thursday.

The rest of our schedule:

The African Queen (Sept. 21)

Arsenic and Old Lace (Sept. 28)

Oct. 5 (break for us or you to catch up!)

The Lady Vanishes (October 13)

Strangers on a Train (Oct. 19)

Rebecca (Oct. 26)

Little Women (November 2)

Tea with The Dames (November 9)

The Fishermen’s Friends (November 16)

November 23 off for Thanksgiving

November 30^th? Wildcard at this point because we shifted things around and are short a movie! Oops! We will update