Say what you want about floppy haired filmmaker Wes Anderson. Whether you think he's obsessed with his own in jokes, or he's an amazing auteur, there's no denying the guy has talent.
With his latest release Fantastic Mr Fox, Anderson takes his obsessive-compulsive brand of movie making into the painstaking realm of stop motion animation.
Stepping into territory usually reserved for the likes of Tim Burton or Henry Selick, it's a risky transition for any director to make, and for the most part he pulls it off.
An adaptation of the beloved Roald Dahl tale, it's a cussing adult film wrapped in the colourful trappings of a kid's film, complete with all the fractured personalities you will have come to expect from the director.
Mr Fox wants what's best for his family - a better, safer home, but by acquiring it he puts his entire furry community at risk from three ruthless and bitter farmers, Boggins, Bunce and Bean.
Of course Anderson inflects his own spin on the story. This results in a frayed relationship between Mr Fox and his young son Ash coupled with some competitive rivalry from fox cousin Kristofferson.
All the Anderson regulars are present; Jason Schwartzman is perfect as Mr Fox' s moody son, Bill Murray goes wild as Badger, the unlikely demolitions expert and Michael Gambon provides a suitably evil foe as farmer Bean. However, a little more of Owen Wilson's Coach Skip wouldn't have gone amiss.
New comers George Clooney as a Fox going through a mid life crisis and Meryl Streep as his wife and pillar of support gel seamlessly with the directors style, let's hope they become familiar faces in the Anderson universe.
One of the biggest criticisms of Fantastic Mr Fox has been that it's too quirky, as if critics want to tone Wes Anderson down or make him more mainstream.
Thankfully, Fantastic Mr Fox isn't your run of the mill animation, it's different, and in the words of Mrs Fox, "there's something kind of fantastic about being different."
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