In 2009, Wes Anderson pulled off an underrated timeless claymation adventure, devoid of any CGI with Fantastic Mr. Fox.  The epic tale centers around the life and times of a debonair fox who’s in denial of his criminal thieving past, so he decides to moonshine in a sporting fashion by deceptively pilfering goods and livestock from three ravenous farmers with the enlisted help of an honorable clan of rabid misfits, all just to survive and raise his family in good faith.

Essentially, it’s a hysterical adventure where Wallace and Grommit meet The Royal Tenenbaums, and if you love Wes Anderson movies, this masterpiece of cinema is all incrementally framed together, done in his usual film style, and dealt with a lavish flair of script writing and awkwardly dry humor.  You might have missed it!  It features the voices of George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Brian Cox, and many many more absurd players all straddled together form his other films.

You can sit and watch it with the whole family, but a kid’s movie it is NOT!  More like a more sophisticated Looney Toons motion picture.

So, it’s nice to finally see Fantastic Mr. Fox ($40)  up for the Criterion treatment on Blu-Ray, loaded with a shit load of extras on 3 discs:

• Digital master, approved by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary featuring Anderson
• Storyboard animatic for the entire film
• Footage of the actors voicing their characters, puppet construction, stop-motion setups, and the recording of the score
• Interviews with cast and crew
• Puppet animation tests
• Photo gallery of puppets, props, and sets
• Animated awards acceptance speeches
• Audio recording of author Roald Dahl reading the book on which the film is based
• Fantastic Mr. Dahl, an hour-long 2005 documentary about the author
• Gallery of Dahl’s original manuscripts
• Discussion and analysis of the film
• Stop-motion Sony robot commercial by Anderson
• One Blu-ray and two DVDs, with all content available in both formats
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Erica Wagner; a 2002 article on Dahl’s Gipsy House by Anderson; White Cape, a comic book used as a prop in the film; and drawings, original paintings, and other ephemera

All primed and ready to drop on February 18th!