Well, I got lucky. I got a pre-release copy of it on DVD, thanks to Twentieth Century Fox’s PR agency, and took it to my sister’s house the weekend before last. Saturday night, all the children got to stay up late while we watched it en famille, two women and four children, only one of who had already seen the movie.
It’s a lot of fun. Every time Fox opened his mouth, I peered intently at his furry face, looking for George Clooney’s fine visage (which never appeared, despite my willing it). The look and feel of the sets and characters is totally charming in a funky, sepia-toned way. The animals are so dapper and well-mannered, until they sit down to eat – when they messily scarf their food down like, um, animals. It’s witty enough for grown-ups – I think my sister and I laughed more than the kids did – but charming enough for kids, these kids anyway. (When asked later what her favorite part was, my daughter went on and on about how funny the electric fence was. This, though, is a child who has watched a lot of Bugs Bunny.) And as heroes go, Fox is flawed – after all, he’s stealing chickens – but he’s a good ringleader for his ragtag bunch and leads them to communal mecca at the end. I mean, wouldn’t you want to live in a supermarket and not have to forage and kill for your dinner? (Don’t answer that. I was being ironic. The point is, Fox is looking out for his friends.)
Okay then. You missed it in the theater? You can’t wait until it gets released on DVD on March 23rd? (And by the way, why does it amuse me so much that Fantastic Mr. Fox was released by Twentieth Century Fox?) You’re in luck – I have FIVE copies to give away. More precisely, I’m going to pick FIVE winners and Bender/Helper Impact is going to give them away.To enter, leave me a comment below, with a fond memory of some Roald Dahl book or another (we're partial to Dirty Beasts). Alas, you must live in the United States. Make sure I can find your email address (like, edit your Blogger "user profile" so that your email address is in there PLEASE). Comments close at 9:00 pm EST on Monday, March 8th. FIVE winners will be picked out of a hat or some other suitably random method.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of the movie, for which I paid nothing, though it doesn’t really have any street value because it’s not even in a case or anything. I was not compensated for this review. The giveaway copies of the DVD are being provided (and shipped) by Bender/Helper Impact on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox.
33 comments:
I am absolutely dying to see this and I can't figure out how we never managed to see it in the theater. I read all of Roald Dahl's books as a child, even the ones he wrote for grownups (which were kind of terrifying and mysterious) and was beyond thrilled when AJ was old enough to read them that there were some newer ones I hadn't seen before. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I have fond memories one one that doesn't tend to get mentioned so often, Danny Champion of the World. Why did I like that one so much? Because they are breaking the law AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT. Even as a kid I was fascinated by a moral quandary. I read it with AJ a few years ago and was pleased to learn he liked it as much as I did. His favorite is still Charlie, though. What's not to love about Charlie? He is a connaisseur of both Charlie films and will expound on their relative merits when asked. I know he wants to see Mr. Fox too.
I swear, this one missed out theatre, because we all wanted to see it. Angus did a long, drawn-out English project on James and the Giant Peach this year, which was good because kids would come in looking for it and I could shill the rest of the Dahl books. I had a funny experience working in a bookstore once where an older man came in looking for a book his granddaughter wanted called the Big Friendly Giant. I looked at him blankly for a minute and he said 'they call him the BFG?' and I burst out laughing. I had read it when i was younger, but frankly, whenever I shelved it I always transliterated the f into another word in my head. My kids love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where the whole family sleeps together and spends most of their time in the big bed, because this is how they prefer it to go in our house.
Miss Crowe, my grade 5 teacher read James and the Giant Peach to us. It made my brain tickle. She also read Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy. I need to find her so I can smooch her. Too bad I don't know her married name.
I saw Fantastic Mr Fox with two friends of mine. When we left the theatre one of them said, I liked that movie so much that I will use it in future to judge all people who did not like it. They cannot be my friends. I agreed with him wholeheartedly. So, yes, please, enter me in the draw.
We really, really wanna see this one! But I'm afraid I've used up all my magic bloggie-giveaway juju. Or maybe I've been using up all my juju trying to get my accidental dongs posted? WHY??? xoh
I want to see it because I hear some of the animals eat blueberries! And my dogs have been inSANE for blueberries lately. Is that the weirdest reason or what?
We saw this in the theatre and LOVED it! Please include me in your drawing. I think Dahl books were the first ones I read to Dusty when she was four and ready for chapter books. My favorite, apart from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and the second one with Evil Knids), is Mathilda. She overcomes those retched parents and the horrible headmistress and gets the parent she'd always wanted. I've always loved books (all very Dickensian, I suppose), where the heroine goes through hell to win in the end. Crossing my fingers!!
WANT!
We've been reading some Dahl lately-namely The Twits and The Witches...some of it seems to go right over the kids heads, but I like it. :P
Viv has been whining to see this, so winning would RULE.
Wonderful story of Henry Sugar rocked my world.
We read the book Fantastic Mr. Fox as a bedtime story after she loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach so much. (She usually puts the kabosh on chapter books without pictures but this one held her interest.) She was very upset that the movie version was not the same as the book. She almost refused to see it, the little purist! But her daddy took her so that mommy could see 'Broken Embraces' (playing in the same cineplex--actually, we flipped a coin on who got to go to what movie).
I think we will read The Twits next.
They loved the movie. Both she and her dad are picky for different reasons and they both loved it. I heard it was great elsewhere as well. But we haven't made it back to the movies since then.
She loved the Tim Burton version of James and the Giant Peach. It's excellent. So I recommend that if you haven't seen it.
I was a HUGE Roald Dahl fan as a kid -- my kids are now reading my old hard-cover versions of "Danny the Champion of the World" and "James and the Giant Peach."
And, my husband snookered me into going to see the film of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" by telling me The Clooney was in it. Because I've been living under a rock, though, I didn't know the film was animated! Hubby wins.
I wanted to take my kids to see this movie when it was out -- but it wasn't playing close by!
My oldest daughter has been enjoying his books for years -- and I love to have someone to talk to about them!
When I was very tiny, maybe 5 years old, my mother read Charlie & the Chocolate Factory to my sister and me. I loved the drawing of the two sets of grandparents in bed together. I think I'll remember that drawing all my life -- esp. because my parents & my husband's parents will be re-enacting it 10 years hence. (Ha. Sort of.) Now that I'm older though I think Matilda is my favorite Dahl book.
Pls enter me in the drawing!
I have a terrible secret. Until I was an adult, I never read a single Roald Dahl book. I blame my parents. My daughter and I are discovering Roald Dahl together, starting with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have learned that there is a whole canon of kids literature that my undereducated parents failed to introduce to me. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Danny the Champion of the World was my favorite as a kid, though I would pretend his was really "Danielle."
I remember feeling like I'd discovered some crazy secret when I read "Charlie..." and found out how different the book was from the movie, which I consider cinema gold, and worthy of both frequent and repetitive reference ("she was a bad egg" "there's going to be a lot of garbage today") and song-singing.
How did I miss hearing about this movie?! My fave by far is James and the Giant Peach. Read it to The Snake last year and he wanted it over and over.
I was SO mad when my son chose to see the damn chipmunk movie instead of this one ... so I want it just for ME!
I love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; and have you ever read any of Dahl's short stories for adults? I seem to remember one in which the murder weapon was a leg of lamb.
I'm probably disqualified from entering under some nepotism clause, but I really want to win nonetheless. Alex is an expert in all things Roald Dahl, having read (I think) all the books for kids and memorized big chunks of D Is for Dahl: A gloriumptious A-Z guide to the world of Roald Dahl. My favorite, however, might just be the little-known Vicar of Nibbleswicke!
I loved Dahl as a child, was introduced to his stories during my primary school days in England. I can't wait until my boys are old enough to enjoy James, Charlie, and the rest.
When I was in second grade, my (mean, horrible) teacher Miss Walker read us Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is seriously the only nice thing I can say about her. I remember loving the book and (therefore) hating the movie--yes, even the Gene Wilder one that everyone loves. Now I find that one's ok but I can't bear the one with Johnny Depp.
Anyway. I think C&CF was the only Dahl I read as a kid (no idea why!) but Matilda and James and the Giant Peach were enormous hits with both my kids, who rarely agree on anything. And we all loved the movie--but my daughter didn't get to see it (ok, she's 20, she can go on her own, but she didn't) so I'd especially love to win it for her.
I was just thinking about this movie as a possible video for Ada that I might want to watch as well.
Re Roald Dahl - for the holidays I got my godson a copy of The Minpins, one I'd never read as a kid. (I loved the phantom tollbooth myself.) I ended up reading the book to him and Ada while they ate lunch before we all went to see The Nutcracker. They were mesmerized and I had to keep reminding them to eat while I read.
My only complaint about that movie is... it should have been British. I'm sorry, doing Roald Dahl in American English is just plain wrong. It sounds wrong. It IS wrong.
The thing I love most about Roald Dahl (and I reread his books often, even at the age of 28) is that he doesn't talk down to kids. He takes steps that other authors are afraid to take. He tells gruesome stories without worrying about giving kids nightmares. He assures you that REAL witches look like any other woman, that REAL witches wear ordinary clothes and work ordinary jobs. That your own school teacher could be a witch... and he doesn't fret that you might not sleep tonight thinking about which of your neighbours is a witch.
And kids LOVE stuff like that.
Roald Dahl has no boundaries. He takes kids where kids want to go, not where adults would like to shepherd them. While C.S. Lewis teaches kids about chivalry and morality, Dahl teaches kids to put mice in the candy jars of nasty store clerks, and to torment mean parents by gluing their hats to their heads. He points out that CS Lewis "doesn't have any funny bits" in his books, and reminds us that "Children are not so serious as adults, and they love to laugh."
And yet, his books are meaningful. The story of Charlie Bucket is possibly the best fairy tale of all time, and those nasty selfish tv watching spoiled brats all get theirs.
Fantastic Mr. Fox always made me hungry. It made me want to drink cider and eat Christmas dinner. I think they carried that in the movie very well, even if they did commit the sin of taking Dahl's characters and making them sound like they were from Middle America.
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Oh, I always adored Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Vermicious Knids!!
Cool that you got an advance copy of Mr. Fox - here at Casa de Crazy the only advance things we get are cases of the crazies (they're two-for-one specials at the local Evil Empire on alternate blue moons).
Shade and Sweetwater,
K
Do I need to say more than I adored his books as a kid? That I devoured them? The Witches. James and the Giant Peach. Danny the Champion of the World. Can't wait till my kids are older and I can share his books with them. Also my MIL in UK lives very near his museum. Would love to check this movie out.
James and his wicked Aunts Sponge and Spiker .. and the creatures who adopt him. Such a sweet story.
Loved Dahl's books as a child. I sort of remember thinking that he thought of children differently than other adults. More capable of understanding the subversive maybe? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Great Glass Elevator were read multiple times.
I love Willy Wonka's river of chocolate - Yum! I've never read The Fantastic Mr. Fox but it's on my list of books to read to my daughter. I heard the movie was great.
What a great giveaway. I so wanted to see it in theatres, but never got the chance. I loved reading The Witches to my kids.
On an unrelated note, my verification word is "upsess," which seems to tickle me for some reason.
I never read Roald Dahl. I know, right? But I've read *about* him, and I know he's Norwegian. When my son started reading chapter books, I picked up some Dahl for him to try. So I'll learn about his stories through my kids. ;)
James and the Giant Peach and I had a long run. I read and reread it as a child and always felt its darkness, although now, I have to admit, if pressed, I couldn't tell you what that darkness was. But I think, in a way, that's the sign of a good book: decades later you are left with a strong feeling, even if the plot and characters have wafted into the ether. All I know is I wanted to crawl inside of a peach. That's pretty intense.
I really wanted to see this and missed it! I didn't actually read a Roald Dahl book until I had kids. He's one of those rare authors that entertains kids and adults.
I promise to expand my Dahl knowledge beyond the Chocolate Factory!!
This was one of my very favorite books as a kid. I'd love to win a copy because I didn't see it in the theater.
I too looked for Clooney's face every time Mr. Fox spoke. Instead I just imagined it. Loved that movie! Have been loving seeing my first grader read Roald Dahl books. He just finished the classic Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and the lesser known Danny Champion of the World.
MQ loves Bugs Bunny, too, so now I am all curious about the electric fence.
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