Fantastic Mr. Fox (PG)
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This was directed by Wes Anderson, and based on a Roald Dahl book that I've never read. It came out in 2009, but I didn't see it until 2021. It took me awhile to get into the movie, and I never managed to like it quite as much as I wanted to. I don't know why; it has plenty of elements I generally like a lot in movies (especially its quirkiness), and I definitely think it deserves to be appreciated more than I did. It deserves to be loved. I really feel bad about not liking it as much as I should. But I did like it, and I'm very glad to have seen it.

One thing I suppose I didn't like about it at first was how self-centered Mr. Fox (George Clooney) seemed, like he never pays any heed to the opinions of other animals, including his wife, Felicity (Meryl Streep). Still, over time, I guess his smooth talking does become sort of charming, and by the end of the movie he shows some character growth. Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Fox are chicken thieves, at the start of the movie. But when they get trapped, Felicity makes her husband promise that if they get out alive, he'll change his career. Then we flash forward twelve fox-years, and Mr. Fox is now a newspaper columnist. And they have a pre-teen son named Ash (Jason Schwartzman), who wants to be an athlete, but isn't very good at sports, and feels like no one pays attention to his feelings. Things get worse for Ash when his cousin, Kristofferson, comes to stay with them while his own dad is very ill, because Kristofferson is naturally gifted at pretty much everything, which makes Mr. Fox show pride in him that he's never shown his son.

Meanwhile, Mr. Fox decides his family should move into a tree, ignoring the advice of his lawyer, Clive Badger, who tells him he can't afford the new home. The tree is near three farms owned by men named Bean (a turkey and apple farmer), Boggis (a chicken farmer), and Bunce (a duck and goose farmer). Mr. Fox enlists the help of an opossum named Kylie to steal from all three farmers, which soon leads to the men trying to kill Mr. Fox. (Bean takes the lead in these efforts.) Things soon become very rough for all the local animals, as the farmers use ever more drastic means to try to catch Mr. Fox. Oh, and I should also mention that one of the farmers (I think it was Bean) has a security guard, who is a Rat (Willem Dafoe). And I guess I don't want to reveal any more of the plot. But it's all rather amusing and as I said, quirky. And there's good character development in the relationships between Mr. and Mrs. Fox as well as Ash and Kristofferson, and between Mr. Fox and Ash. Definitely a fun movie.