Fantastic Mr. Fox has always quietly been among the best Wes Anderson films. It often doesn't get ranked among his classics, because it's his one animated outlier. But even though it's a bunch of stop-motion animals, it's Anderson at his sweetest.

So it's nice to see him return to animation after the Oscar success of The Grand Budapest Hotel. He's not trying to recreate the formula that earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Instead, it's an animated adventure about a pack of outcast dogs, with voices from Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, F. Murray Abraham, Courtney B. Vance, Bob Balaban, and Yoko Ono.

In many ways, animation is the perfect fit for Anderson's dollhouse style, where he can dress and build little perfect, twee sets to his every whim. And it gives him the freedom to adventure in any way that fits his needs. In this case, it's near-future Japan, where "dog flu" and overpopulation has forced Mayor Kobayashi to quarantine all the canines to a garbage island. But Rex, Duke, King, Boss, and Chief are looking to escape. And a young boy, Atari Kobayashi, has hijacked a plane to go save his lost dog Spots. If nothing else, this will warm your cold, dead heart.

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From: Esquire US