So this was my favorite film as a kid.
I hadn’t seen it in ages when I decided to order the Criterion a couple of days ago. 
And tonight I watched it for the first time in years. 
And it not only held up but gave so much nostalgia and just feelings of happiness I can’t even describe. 
In terms of films that made me this would be the film right here. Without this film I wouldn’t have discovered many of my favorite films. Without this film I wouldn’t even be a film fan. 
And I watched this when I was like 8 or 9. 
To give you an idea how well it held up I remembered almost everything about it. Most movies I have trouble remembering but here I remembered basically everything. 
This is my favorite Wes Anderson film. 
He’s made many amazing films. Just this decade The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom. But this is his magnum opus in my eyes. 
The direction in here is just amazing.
Being an older film fan now I’ve grown to appreciate the direction so much more.
The opening shot of the book being opened just looks beautiful. And the opening shot of Mr. Fox standing by the tree listening to music is just stunning. Then the shot of Mr. and Mrs. Fox in the fox trap just looks stunning. The shot of them getting to the chicken coup looks amazing. The shot of the tree they end up moving into looks stunning. The shot of the construction workers going in and preparing the tree just look stunning. The shot of the newspaper Mr. Fox is reading looks stunning. The shot of Ash in the costume when you first meet him looks stunning. And don’t even get me started on the heist scenes. The way Anderson directs them is just amazing. How they go from Boggis to Bunce to Bean so quickly and it all feels natural. The first heist at Boggis’ farm is shot on another level as well. All the heists are shot with extreme precision. And some moments become intense because of the direction. The scene with the Cider when you see Mr. Fox just not moving in the background as the person is questioning putting the cider back is legitimately intense. So is the fight with the rat. Then the fight with the rat in the sewers just looks amazing with the lighting strikes just look beautiful. And the ending shots in the supermarket are just perfect. And that final zoom out of the supermarket as the title card plays is just perfection.
I could write a review purely on how genius the direction is but I’ll do that another time. 
The plot. 
It’s just fun.
It’s crazy and that end in the sewers is extremely intense. 
And the final encounters with Boggis Bunce and Bean are all extremely fun to watch.
The heist sequences are extremely well done. 
And how the story escalates so fast but it makes sense is just great. 
And the humor.
This is just the kind of humor for me.
It’s subtle but when it hits it hits. 
Like Mr. Fox looking at the newspaper and seeing the ad for bandit hats for forty percent off was just hilarious. 
And all the stuff with Kylie and how it builds to that joke with Mr. Fox at the end is just amazing. 
Also the pool scene.
Just amazing. 
There’s so many good humor scenes. 
The characters.
There all memorable.
Kristofferson especially. 
Ash is memorable.
Mrs. and Mr. Fox are both memorable. 
Kylie is very memorable. 
Even the coach in the wackbat game is so memorable. 
Also the wackbat scene.
That scene was just amazing. It just moves so fast but it works.
Boggis Bunce and Bean are very memorable villains.
The rat as well is memorable. 
Every character is memorable. 
The music.
It just fits.
The music literally just fits.
The music was just made perfectly.
When the rat is on screen you know it’s the rat by the change in theme. 
The theme when they’re running away from the heists are all extremely memorable.
The music Mr. Fox and Ash play at the end are all memorable. 
Oh and the shot of the rat drifting away in the sewer is beautiful.
Same with the shot of Mr. Fox deciding what he has to do.
And the shot of him forming the plan to get Kristofferson back.
Every shot is perfect I can’t hammer that in enough. 
Also how all the characters just speak so causally. There isn’t really any big yelling moments except a couple but those are like toasts and speeches. But yeah most of the dialogue is just casual and I just love it. 
It’s so calmed down.
So when the ending fight with Boggis Bunce and Bean is so dramatic when the theme starts playing and that theme. The songs for Boggis Bunce and Bean is just so memorable. And when it fits into this battle type theme it works. 
Oh and the wolf.
“Oh I’m not afraid of wolves I just have a phobia of them.”
Subtle humor like that got me. Because the line is delivered so casually it takes you a moment to notice it. 
And the scene with the wolf.
“Good luck out there.”
It’s literally a scene with a character you don’t even know and you feel emotion towards it.
Like I felt so much in that scene I didn’t see coming.
I felt so many emotions throughout this film. 
But yeah the direction in the scene with the wolf is beautiful. Just how icy the area is which is also kinda a joke looks amazing. And seeing the wolf just standing there as Mr. Fox try’s to talk to it just look amazing.
That wolf scene is definitely one of my favorite scenes.
But I don’t have a favorite scene.
The whole movie is my favorite scene. 
Not only does it not drag for a moment it just flows perfectly. 
The plot in every direction it goes makes sense. 
Also the scene of Mrs. Fox painting just looks amazing. And that giant painting in the sewer looks amazing.
And that scene where the sewer water is falling down and Mr. Fox kisses Mrs. Fox goodbye hit me way harder than expected. 
The colors are amazing.
The yellows just look amazing. 
All the colors are amazing it’s a Wes Anderson film what do you expect. 
I will be coming back to this film a lot I already know this. 
It fired perfectly in every aspect for me.
I just felt happiness. And in these dark times this really brought me up. 
So yeah expect a lot of rewatches from this since this is the first time I’ve seen it in ages. 
12/10 check my favorite films to see how high it is but from this review you guess.
But yeah without this film I wouldn’t even be a film fan.
I burned out and just scratched to death the old disc I had as a kid because I played it so much and it’s nice to have a new Criterion copy. 
I’ll be reading the essay booklet in the Criterion hopefully tomorrow. 
I’ll listen to the commentary eventually. 
And the other disc of special features I will definitely be checking out.
So yeah thank you to Fantastic Mr. Fox for making me a film fan. 
Oh and the Criterion is amazing. The cover is just beautiful. The painting they did on the inside and case for the actual DVD’s just look amazing. 
12/10 this film was exactly what I needed right now. I already want to rewatch it. And I will sometime soon.
Also the Dune trailer. Dune is one of my favorite books of all time so I’ll be holding off all my thoughts on Dune til I see it.