Matthew Noble’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Are you cussing with me?"
I'm tempted to call Fantastic Mr. Fox the apotheosis of Wes Anderson's style - a point I thought he had already reached with The Royal Tenenbaums - given how pristine and measured everything looks and feels in it. Whether or not you consider this a good thing will depend on your own Anderson-ian leanings, but I felt like the story started to leave me a little cold as it progressed. Maybe it's because some of the characters aren't particularly sympathetic, but I reckon the main problem is that Anderson (and Life Aquatic co-writer Noah Baumbach) never give them much time to breathe amidst the comedy. I'd claim this is an issue with stop motion movies in general, but Wallace and Gromit have clearly proven otherwise in the past.
Just to be clear, I did really like Fantastic Mr. Fox - it zips along with suitable élan, the animation is staggeringly well-constructed, and Willem Dafoe's psychotic rat steals every shot he's in - but I didn't love it quite as much as I wanted to.
*whistle* *click click*
