Fantasticalicious!

The new Wes Anderson film Fantastic Mr. Fox is not your every day animated film from a children's classic book. The film maker has taken an already extraordinary story by Roald Dahl (and not one suitable for most children) and given it a fresh, inventive and quirky interpretation. The stop-start animation has a distinctly retro feel to it - think of the classic Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer Christmas television special. The voices are superb. I had no idea how expressive and varied George Clooney (Mr. Fox) could sound. I suppose when we're watching him in a live-action film, we're usually taken up with his dark chocolate eyes or his roguish smile. Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox and all the other wonderful actors do a superb job of a clever and very grown-up script. All the usual Anderson touches are there: the cross-section of almost any structure, the sudden cutting from angle to angle, and the usual cast of suspects including Bill Murray and Owen Wilson.

I loved it and am giving it a BPG big thumbs up.

All this was enhanced by a highly successful, pre-movie, gift-shopping trip at Indigo...




... and dinner in the company of a pint of Guinness and two excellent friends.

I'd better get wrapping.