Fantastic Mr. Fox

Impressions before seeing it
I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson's directing style and of stop-motion animation. Also I did read the Roald Dahl book a long time ago, but I can't really remember it.

How was it?
I thought the animation was awesome, and there was something unique about it that is worth bonus points. I enjoyed the look of the human characters and the way the fox fur sometimes seemed to wiggle like there was a breeze. Things like that.

The story was similar to that of Chicken Run, and George Clooney (as Mr. Fox) even plays the same suave character type that Mel Gibson played as Rocky the rooster. The difference is that instead of escaping the confines of a farm and some nasty farmers, Fox and his team of amateur bandits are breaking into three farms to steal loads of food for their families. There is a subplot about how his wife disapproves of his dangerous thievery, which I wasn't too into because it seemed so standard, but I did like the subplot about Fox's son Ash being jealous of his cousin Kristofferson - although that was somewhat typical as well, I enjoyed it more.

I think what I liked about this movie (aside from the aforementioned beautiful animation) was the characters. Even Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, the three nasty farmers trying to kill our heroes. It was fun watching all of them interact, and Mr. Fox's handling of the thefts and his sidekick Kylie almost reminded me of Anderson's earliest effort Bottle Rocket. One thing I can say, however, is that in spite of liking the characters I wasn't really feeling the movie's most emotional scenes. I don't know why, they just didn't affect me the way they wanted to.

Recommendation
Fantastic Mr. Fox is very much worth watching because it's fun and it's nice to look at. But I don't really see it winning the Best Animated Picture Oscar against Up. And if you're a huge Owen Wilson fan, the trailer was somewhat misleading because his part was small enough that he shouldn't really have been included in the promos except for the fact that people know who he is.