--- title: 'Fantastic Mr. Fox': 50 Most Underappreciated Movies description: Find out why "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is on TIME's list of the 50 most underappreciated movies of the 21st Century. canonical: https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353502/fantastic-mr-fox/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-02-04T12:52:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T01:04:37.111Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Is on The 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century og:description: Here's why "Fantastic Mr. Fox" made TIME's list og:url: https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353502/fantastic-mr-fox/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c58b736f1b28a4f/6998cbd51f6709a0c6f56f5d/Underappreciated-Movies-Fantastic-Mr.-Fox.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Is on The 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Is on The 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century twitter:description: Here's why "Fantastic Mr. Fox" made TIME's list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c58b736f1b28a4f/6998cbd51f6709a0c6f56f5d/Underappreciated-Movies-Fantastic-Mr.-Fox.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 04, 2026 # _Fantastic Mr. Fox_ Wes Anderson by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/) ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic  Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney, in "Fantastic Mr. Fox", 2009. Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney, in "Fantastic Mr. Fox", 2009.Fox Searchlight / Everett Collection The 2009 stop-motion-animation wonder _Fantastic Mr. Fox_ is often treated as an outlier among [Wes Anderson’s films](https://time.com/7290126/wes-anderson-movies-ranked/), when it’s mentioned at all. But often, even those who don’t warm to Anderson’s brand of manicured whimsy—I count myself among them—find this film easy to love.The Mr. Fox of the title, a rangy-looking vulpes in a corduroy suit, is voiced by [George Clooney](https://time.com/7313115/jay-kelly-movie-review/); he’s a rapscallion charmer who steals chickens and stuff to get by. Then his wife, the soft-spoken, sensible Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep), announces that she’s with child—or make that kit. Mr. Fox quits his life of crime to be a newspaperman, a more honest way to provide for his family. But seven years later, he’s lured back to his old ways when he hatches a scheme to steal from three very rich, and very mean, local farmers (voiced by Robin Hurlstone, Hugo Guinness, and Michael Gambon). The Roald Dahl book from which _Fantastic Mr. Fox_ was adapted—by Anderson and his friend [Noah Baumbach](https://time.com/5664305/marriage-story-review-noah-baumbach/)—is slim and swift. To fill out a feature-length movie, Anderson and Baumbach had to expand upon and embroider Dahl’s story, and they did so without bloating the picture or overloading it. But what makes _Fantastic Mr. Fox_ truly wonderful is its sense of protectiveness toward the past: The somewhat rough-looking, slightly jerky folk-art-style stop-motion animation here feels marvelously handmade. And the puppets, with their kooky eyes and even crazier whorls of fur, capture the spirit of the cheerful, mildly insane Quentin Blake illustrations that accompany Dahl’s text. This is a movie with style, wit, and heart, a work of old-school craftsmanship that will forever feel gloriously modern. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353502/fantastic-mr-fox/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353502/fantastic-mr-fox/"},"headline":"Fantastic Mr. Fox","datePublished":"2026-02-04T12:52:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:04:37.111Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353502/fantastic-mr-fox/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c58b736f1b28a4f/6998cbd51f6709a0c6f56f5d/Underappreciated-Movies-Fantastic-Mr.-Fox.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"creator":"Stephanie Zacharek","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c58b736f1b28a4f/6998cbd51f6709a0c6f56f5d/Underappreciated-Movies-Fantastic-Mr.-Fox.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353502/fantastic-mr-fox/","name":"Fantastic Mr. Fox"}}]}] ```