This is visionary director Wes Anderson’s first animated film, utilizing classic handmade stop motion techniques to tell the story of the best selling children’s book by Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach). The film features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, etc.

Mr and Mrs Fox (Clooney and Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash and visiting young nephew Kristopherson. But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr Fox at any cost.

- Who am I, Kylie? Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I’m saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know?
- I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it sounds illegal.

Wes Anderson creates a triumph in animated storytelling.

- Honey, I'm seven non-fox years old now. My father died at seven and a half. I don't want to live in a hole anymore, and I'm going to do something about it.

- Don't buy this tree, Foxy. This is Boggis, Bunce, and Bean! Three of the meanest, nastiest, ugliest farmers in this valley! You're moving into the most dangerous neighborhood for someone of your type of species.
- Your comments are valuable, but I’m gonna ignore your advice.
- The cuss you are.
- Are you cussing with me?
- No, you cussing with me?
- Don't cussing point at me!
- If you're gonna cuss, you're not gonna ...
- Just buy the tree.
- Okay.

"Rolling Stone" raves: "Fantastic Mr Fox is a movie that deserves to be called groundbreaking. It looks like nothing you've seen before...

- We look good.
- Yeah, we do.

... It's proof that Pixar doesn't have a monopoly on heartfelt and funny animation."

- [French:] Pensez-vous que l'hiver sera rude?
- I'm asking him if he thinks we're in for a hard winter.

Academy award winner George Cloony

- What's that thing you do, the whistle with the clicking sound?
- That's my trademark.

Academy award winner Meryl Streep.

- You really are a quote-unquote fantastic fox.
- I try.

Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson.

- Whack-bat's real simple. There's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig runners, and a player at whack-bat. Centre tagger lights a pine cone and chucks it over the basket and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock.

Fantastic Mr. Fox.

- Twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out, then you count up however many score-downs it adds up to and divide that by nine."

BEETLE= An insect (see picture)

A BALD EAGLE= A bald /bɔ:ld/ person has no hair. A bald eagle is an American eagle with a white head (see picture)

STORYTELLING= The technique of telling stories.

HONEY= /hʌnɪ/ A sweet produce of bees (see picture), also used as a loving way of addressing someone you love (esp. spouse or children)

SEVEN NON-FOX YEARS OLD= Foxes probably live as much as a dog, so 7 years old for a fox is the equivalent of 41 years old for a human person. When Mr Fox says he's 7 non-fox years old he means that he's counting the years as humans do. This is all messed up, of course, because what he says makes sense from a human point of view, but he's a fox... Ok, forget about all this.

THE MEANEST= The most cruel and selfish. (basic form: mean)

NASTIEST= The most disgusting, unpleasant. (basic form: nasty)

SOMEONE OF YOUR TYPE OF SPECIES= A fox like you. A SPECIES /spi:ʃi:z/ is a specific variety of animal or plant. We belong to the human species. Cats, dogs and palm trees are different species. This word doesn't change (1 species, 2 species).

VALUABLE= Important.

THE CUSS YOU ARE= You are a very annoying person (or animal); you get on my nerves.

ARE YOU CUSSING WITH ME?= This is a funny new way of using the word "cuss" as a verb. This sentence would mean: are you trying to annoy me?

DON'T CUSSING POINT AT ME!= A funny new way of using the word "cuss" as an invented swear word used for emphasis. If you point at someone you point your index finger at them, usually to tell them off or threat them.

GROUNDBREAKING= A groundbreaking thing or idea is so innovative and good that it sets a new level of excellence.

HEARTFELT= Moving, emotional.

WE'RE IN FOR A HARD WINTER= We're going to suffer a terrible winter.

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER= A person who has won an Oscar in Hollywood.

WHISTLE= /wɪsəl/  A sound you make with your mouth similar to the sound produced by a whistle (see picture)

MY TRADEMARK= Something personal and original that identifies me.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE FANTASTIC FOX= A very common error used in the United States. The word QUOTE means QUOTATION MARKS or INVERTED COMMAS (= "), and UNQUOTE (or ENDQUOTE) is the closing inverted commas. So the correct sentence should be: quote - Fantastic Fox – unquote (which is the oral representation of: "Fantastic Fox"), used, as in writing, to emphasize a word or phrase or to give it a special meaning, very often accompanied by a little fang finger gesture.

WHACK-BAT= A game, similar to baseball, invented for this movie.

DASH= Move very fast.

BACK AND FORTH= Moving forward and backwards.

PINE CONE= The fruit of a pine tree (see picture)

BURNS OUT= To be completely destroyed or damaged by or as if by fire.