Metrograph

Anderson adapted Roald Dahl for the first but not the last time in this charmingly homespun stop-motion production boasting a menagerie of animal heroes and villains. Not just Anderson’s debut venture into animation, Fantastic Mr. Fox was the closest thing he’d done to-date to a pure genre piece—a stylish, taut heist picture, with retired game bird thief Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney), fed up with domesticity, deciding to take one last job, and bringing down a world of trouble on his family in the process. With its distinctly autumnal palette of oranges, reds, golds, and browns, references to harvest-time and cider-making, and general air of convivial cheer, a film that fits the fall holidays like a well-worn sweater.

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios/20th Century