What A Cartoon Movie! - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Added 2025-10-27 21:30:04 +0000 UTCYes, autumn is truly upon us: leaves are crunching underfoot, there's a chill in the air, and if you listen closely, you'll hear foxes having mid-life crises. That's the vibe present in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, an adaptation that expands Roald Dahl's original story into something a lot more... Wes Anderson-y. (You know what we're talking about.) Packed to the brim with notable stars, this very hand-crafted film may have dodged an Oscar win, but its folksy charms certainly won over our hearts. This month on What A Cartoon Movie, sip your favorite cider and sit in your most symmetrical room as we discuss Wes Anderson's animation debut.
Comments
Update: I gave it a watch, and overall enjoyed it this time. Really helped to have seen a couple Anderson films, I think. Definitely felt like a 20 page book stretched out to 90 minutes, but at least it was nice to look at. The humor reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite (ie. lots of awkward people put in odd social situations and reacting to things dryly).
N Rose
2025-11-05 17:15:21 +0000 UTCSorry to correct you Henry, but if I had to guess Kylie’s species it would most like be Didelphis virginiana, the Virginia Opossum. This species is what most Americans (especially Texan Wes Anderson) would think of when they think of a “possum” as it’s the only species in North America and quite common in urban and suburban habitats. Kylie’s physical characteristics match this species exactly. Interestingly, the UK has no endemic species of possum, and their beaver population is long extinct, which lends this movie a magical sense of being set in a nowhere place somewhere between rural Britain and the American Heartland.
Adam King
2025-11-04 18:24:55 +0000 UTCMy odd memory of this film is seeing it in theater with my family. I watched in utter confusion the whole time, while the rest of my family laughed hysterically from start to finish. What made the experience stranger was the rest of the audience in the theater (reasonably filled) was completely dead silent the whole way through. So from what I could tell, nobody was entertained by this, except my family (excluding me). I think I'll have to give it another shot now...? At least now I have a clue what Anderson's schtick is.
N Rose
2025-11-03 23:57:48 +0000 UTCI’m on Bob’s side on Wes Anderson, though I use the term “dollhouse” instead of diorama, the characters and settings of those movies are just as farcical as a Barbie dollhouse I also agree that even though Wes Anderson isn’t “for me” I appreciate that no one’s doing it like him Great podcast like always!
Tricia
2025-10-28 22:04:52 +0000 UTCPonyo was released stateside too, truly an amazing year
Tricia
2025-10-28 21:58:09 +0000 UTCI think people forget just how stacked of a year 2009 was for the animated category. Up was, of course, expected to walk away with the award considering it was a Best Picture nom, but being up against The Secret of Kells, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Princess and the Frog, and Coraline felt like a rare year where all forms of animation were represented. I wanted to see Fantastic Mr. Fox in theaters, but was sadly outvoted by family members who wanted to see the mocap Christmas Carol, which put two of them to sleep and gave one a headache. I still hold that against them 16 years on.
Blake R.
2025-10-28 17:41:13 +0000 UTC
