Film

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Name: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
Released: 2009
Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson, Wallace Wolodarsky

Wes Anderson's stop-motion take on Roald Dahl: a fox who can't stop breaking his promise not to steal chickens, told in felt fur, deadpan diction, and needle-drop swagger. It's a heist movie in miniature — dry, melancholic under the whimsy, gorgeously tactile. For families who like their cartoons a little arch, and adults who want Anderson's control-freak aesthetic applied to puppets.

TMDb rating

7.8

If you liked this

The Grand Budapest Hotel2014

Anderson's most beloved film, same symmetrical framing and deadpan wit, but with human actors instead of felt puppets — see the same brain working at a different scale.

But If Anderson's tone already felt mannered here, this one turns the dial up further, not down.

Isle of Dogs2018

Anderson's other stop-motion feature, another exiled-animal underdog story, this time dogs banished to a trash island — same craftsmanship, darker edges.

But Its politics and tone are colder and stranger, less cozy than Mr. Fox's caper.

Chicken Run2000

Aardman's own animal-heist romp — a prison-break plot with claymation charm and British humor that shares Mr. Fox's cheeky, underdog spirit.

But The animation style is chunkier and more slapstick, without Anderson's dry restraint.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ocean's Eleven2001

Mr. Fox's caper against the farmers is basically a con-man movie in miniature — same swagger, same crew-assembling montage, same thief who can't quit even when he's got everything. Ocean's Eleven is the grown-up, human version of that itch.

A suave ensemble heist filled with charm and precision plotting — watch it to see the exact bravado Mr. Fox is imitating, minus the fur.

But No animals, no whimsy, no Anderson symmetry — just slick Vegas cool and a much longer runtime.

Coraline2009

Same year, same stop-motion craft, but Laika's version leans into gothic unease rather than whimsy — gorgeous puppetry with real teeth.

But It's genuinely eerie in places; younger kids used to Mr. Fox's warmth might find it unsettling.

Paddington 22017

British whimsy and warmth, immaculate craft, a heist subplot, and the same commitment to treating a small world with total sincerity.

But It's live-action and much gentler — none of Anderson's arch irony or melancholy undertow.

James and the Giant Peach1996no page yet

Another Dahl story turned stop-motion adventure — Henry Selick's puppetry has the same handmade texture and oddball charm.

But Aimed younger, with a simpler, more straightforwardly sweet adventure than Anderson's dry comedy.

Kubo and the Two Strings2016

Laika's stop-motion epic trades comedy for myth and grief, showing how far the medium can stretch beyond family caper into something achingly beautiful.

But It's a much more serious, at times sad film — not the light caper romp you might be expecting.

Corpse Bride2005

Tim Burton's stop-motion musical romance shares the tactile, handcrafted look and offbeat sensibility, filtered through gothic melancholy instead of country caper.

But Musical numbers and a ghostly love story are a different genre entirely from Fox's animal heist.

Matilda1996

Another Dahl adaptation with the same mix of mischief, family dysfunction, and kid-outsmarts-adults satisfaction, just live-action and American.

But Danny DeVito's version is broader and more sentimental, missing Anderson's dry, deadpan humor.

Rififi1955

Long before caper movies had jokes, Rififi invented the watch-the-plan-unravel-in-real-time heist structure that Mr. Fox's chicken-coop raids quietly echo — same tension, stripped of comedy.

The famous wordless burglary sequence is one of cinema's great tension set pieces, and it shaped every heist film that came after, including Anderson's tiny fox version.

But It's a slow, subtitled 1955 French noir with none of the family-friendly comfort — patience required.

Robin Hood1973

Decades before Mr. Fox, Disney told nearly the same story: a charming fox-thief who steals from the rich and outwits the establishment, voiced with the same rascal charisma.

It's the animated ancestor of Mr. Fox's whole thieving-fox-with-a-code archetype, done in warm hand-drawn 70s Disney style with jazzy folk songs.

But The animation reuses stock footage and the songs are broader and softer than Anderson's dry wit — a very different era's sensibility.