FANTASTIC Mr Fox is another offbeat treat from director Wes Anderson - though it's not necessarily for kids.
Anderson, a huge fan of Roald Dahl's book, wrote this adaptation sitting in the author's shed and added an ending culled from Dahl's discarded manuscripts; but surprisingly little of the novel remains.
Instead, this is another portrait of a dysfunctional family - albeit a family of animated foxes - from America's most divisive modern filmmaker.
To some a breath of fresh air, to others the Emperor's New Clothes, the director of
Rushmore and
The Royal Tenenbaums has carved a niche for himself over 13 years, fusing disarming comedy and sentimental drama to memorable effect.
Thematically, his Dahl yarn offers more of the same, even if the medium is a little different.
Filmed in the endearing, painstaking stop-motion animation process, and shot in a palette that will have you seeing orange for months, the film conjures a pan-Atlantic, autumnal neverworld that fills the English countryside with American accents.
Magic and mayhemThe first hour is stunning, a whirl of magic and mayhem as Mr Fox (voiced by George Clooney) jacks in his job as a newspaper columnist and returns to his first love - terrorising unpleasant farmers.
Meanwhile, he's battling familial strife, as disapproving wife Meryl Streep tries to thwart his thieving and maladjusted 12-year-old son Jason Schwartzman craves his approval.
As usual, Anderson provides a gallery of vivid supporting characters: a badger with a law office and a sideline in demolitions (Bill Murray), Mr Fox's perfect nephew (voiced by Anderson's brother Eric Chase Anderson) and a sympathetic sports coach (Owen Wilson).
Children should delight in the colourful supporting characters, terrific sight gags and exciting, amusing chase sequences - a couple scored to memorable Beach Boys tunes - though they may squirm during talky stretches that take in existentialism, adolescent angst and mid-life crisis.
Still, despite that curious pitching, and a repetitious final third,
Fantastic Mr Fox remains idiosyncratic and appealing, with a look and style that's all Anderson's own.
If his singular sense of humour and left-field pathos strike a chord, you should have a ball.
(4/5)To read this week's Films on Friday guide, featuring TV listings, more cinema reviews and the next 10 films in our Top 100 countdown, click here.