Fantastic Mr Fox

Directed by Wes Anderson. Voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Muarray, Owen Wilson, Wally Wolodarsky. PG Cert, gen release, 87 min.

Wes Anderson's curious film may disappoint fans of Roald Dahl's book, writes DONALD CLARKE

IS WES Anderson real-odd or fake-odd? Are films such as The Royal Tenenbaumsand The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissousincere manifestations of a genuinely eccentric sensibility, or the work of an ordinary man consciously choosing the least likely path at every crossroads? The young fogey is back with an adaptation of a Roald Dahl story, and we are as far as ever from answering that question.

There are wonderful curiosities within this stop-motion animation – moments of airy whimsy and outbreaks of queasy discomfort – that argue for Anderson as an auteur of some distinction. Equally, there is plenty about Fantastic Mr Foxthat appears contrived to seem uncontrived.

Indeed, the very fact that Anderson has tackled a children’s story could be viewed as evidence of faux-oddness. “Oh, Wes has attacked a kiddie flick,” the cynics might remark. “How clever. How unpredictable. How arch.”

Well, to be fair, Anderson has worked hard at matching the material to his own slightly fuddy- duddy aesthetic. Largely eschewing computers for a style of stop-motion that seems uneasily positioned between the expressionism of Eastern Europeans such as Jan Svankmajer and the cosy warmth of British talents such as Nick Park and Oliver Postgate, this Mr Fox – dressed in the same corduroy suit favoured by Anderson himself – will appeal to as many readers of the New Yorkeras readers of the Beano. Roald Dahl purists may be less keen (though his widow approves).

The vulpine hero is voiced by George Clooney, but, though smooth, he is a rather less attractive figure than most characters played by that reliably suave actor. Initially a notorious chicken thief, Mr Fox settles down in middle age, takes up life as a newspaper columnist and sets about raising a family within the bole of a tree. But it seems he has not forsworn his old ways after all.

It soon becomes clear that, unknown to his wife (Meryl Streep), Mr Fox has been running nightly raids on the produce farmed by a trio of farmers named Boggis and Bunce and Bean. They commit to tracking the fox down. In league with various possums and badgers, he sets about getting his retaliation in first. A great deal of burrowing, scurrying and cackling results.

In truth, the story is so slight it is hardly worth considering. What you make of Fantastic Mr Foxwill largely depend on how you think it looks, smells and feels. Set in a cute, though often sinister, country where the pubs and the bad guys are English, but the teachers and heroes are American, this imaginative film seems faintly terrified of giving into warmth or kindness.

Glance at the stills and you might think the characters had just stepped off the set of The Wind in the Willows, but none of them has the hearty good will of Mole or the buffoonish bonhomie of Toad. Cruel-eyed and sharp-tongued, their fur slightly synthetic, the good guys – the leader of whom, remember, is seen butchering poultry – seem only mildly more likeable than the bad guys.

Yet, there is no question that Fantastic Mr Foxreally gets under your skin. You may, aware that the source material is a children's book, feel the need to search for cuddliness and comfort. The more you squint, however, the more it becomes apparent that Mr Foxis an Anderson film first and a kid's entertainment second (if it is that at all). The coolness and the cruelty work to emphasise that this is a film set among animals who, though clothed and accompanied by original Jarvis Cocker tunes, are still red in tooth and claw.

But hang on. Do we have that right? Maybe the weird, icy tone is just more contrived oddity from this generation’s most prominent faux-eccentric. We’ll never get to the bottom of Wes.