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Fantastic Mr. Fox Has Universal Acclaim from Critics So Far!

by Alex Billington
November 12, 2009

Inspired by this amusing post on Awards Daily titled "How to Build a Sturdy Foxhole", I thought I'd point out that Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which hits limited theaters (in New York and Los Angeles) this weekend before expanding on Thanksgiving, is getting positive reviews. Over on Metacritic, Fantastic Mr. Fox currently has a score of 87, which earns it the "universal acclaim" tag. Ryan points out that 7 of the 9 reviews tracked have a score of 80 or above, which is pretty damn impressive. In comparison, Where the Wild Things Are only has a score of 71 on Metacritic, but it also has quite a few perfect 100 reviews, too.

Yesterday it was officially confirmed that Fantastic Mr. Fox was one of 20 movies in the running for Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars, which bumps up the nominees in that category to five instead of just three. Hence the joke on Awards Daily is that a foxhole is a "a strong defensive fighting position," which is exactly what this film is building up (for Oscar season) with these great reviews. I've seen it (twice) and completely agree with most of the reviews. It's a very fun, very entertaining family film with Wes Anderson's sensibilities, a wonderful story and great character design. We've got some great Fantastic Mr. Fox content on the way, but if you're in New York or Los Angeles, be sure to catch it this weekend before everyone else.

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beavis

i don't go by metacritic, alex..........it's a system full of personal bias (depending on the reviewer). also, the guy who runs the site picks and chooses which reviews to count or disregard. on FMF - i'm excited for this. i like the concept and the the animation. i'll be watching this.
elroy

I just hope it's better than those godawful trailers.
D

This is one movie I want to be in 3D. It's already trippy enough, but if they put it in 3D I'll go out of my way to buy some shrooms.
leinergroove

The trailers so far show how good this movie really is. So far, with Wes Anderson we have a guarantee of a good movie. I can't wait to see this and later on, buy it to put it right between The Darjeeling limited and The life aquatic (those being my favorites!)
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

#2 - What was so wrong with the trailers? I thought the trailers were pretty damn good.
Jake Sully

saw it yesterday at a screening in NYC, really really funny, the design and look of the characters and background was incredible, and the film's score was excellent, great film
xerxex

Seeing it! Wes Anderon is one of todays best directors, and the only film of his I consider bad is The Royal Tenenbaums.
Zachy

The trailers are great. Fine Visuals. Good character introduction... and they get the story across. #7 Royal Tenenbaums is probs his best flick to date. That movie is sheer magic and the cast could not have been better. If anything, Darjeeling had to be his weakest, and that was STILL a good movie.
SlashBeast

Thanks for the heads-up Captain Obvious.
Xerxex

#8 Zachy I was really comparing it to The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, which in my opinion is his absolute best. The Darjeeling Limited is one of my favorites, it comes in second to The Life Aquatic, then the Royal Tenenbaums .
Antioch

I think Tenenbaums was easily his best. I love Bill Murray, but Life Aquatic was horrendous.
movieraider321

Rushmore Life Aquatic Tenenbaums Darjeeling Bottle Rocket Frankly I love them all, he has never made a bad one, the only one that I didn't really enjoy as much as the others was Bottle Rocket. But 11 really? Life Aquatic was not only visually beautiful but a great story. Darjeeling lacks a lot of what his earlier films had, however it is still a great one.
Nikhil Hariharan

Love Wes Anderson, I just got to buying Bottle Rocket on Blu-ray as part of the criterion collection. Basically got all his films now. Even though Darjeeling limited was one of this weakest, i love that film, probably because of the setting. Life Aquatic is great and Tenebaums was a film that took a while for me to grow into....With that said, im eager to see this film in theaters!
Sam

Sorry this is such crap! I hate when a movie tries so hard to tell everyone that critics love it so you should. Critics are mostly out of touch with the general public...and to be honest this movie looks god awful. Nothing funny in the trailers, and just out of touch. Im betting it bombs...and will reserve judgement on how good it should be until after i see it. Just like Where the Wild things are...will bomb in the end once people see past the "rave" reviews that try to make you feel like an idiot for not liking it. I am a fan of Wes's work too.
Ben

Meh. Wes Anderson is horribly over-rated.
SlashBeast

It's general audiences who are the reason that shit keeps getting churned out of Hollywood. I'd be scared if I was "in-touch" WITH them! Besides, it's not critics who are out of touch with general audiences, it's general audiences who are out of touch with critics.
Sam

#16. WOW is everyone else reading this? What a moron! Dude you are exactly what's wrong with critics and the film industry. U really think people need to ignore what they like and blindly listen to critics HAHA thanks for proving my point! Lol
SlashBeast

#17 - Sam If A=B then B=A. If critics can be out of touch with general audiences then gerneal audieences can be out of touch with critics. Have you actually seen the pure shit that general audiences like? The kind of shit that critics frequently warn against. General audiences are the reason that horror franchises NEVER end. General audiences are responsible for the amounts of shit that Hollywood spews out every year. Critics are the smart ones who don't fall for this crap. I'd be genuinely afraid if I actually WAS in touch with what general audiences are liking (aka shit).