12 Best Movies Like Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson has always had a visual panache that’s defined his creative output from the very beginning of his career, but “Fantastic Mr. Fox” represents a leap into an entirely different artistic realm, birthing one of the most beautiful stop-motion films ever made as a result. Based on a children’s novel by Roald Dahl, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” stars George Clooney as the titular patriarch who lives up to all the stereotypes of his species. He’s a clever trickster who feeds his family by stealing from three local farmers in the area. But when the farmers get wise to his scheme and start to work together to prevent him from thieving, Mr. Fox hatches a desperate plot involving all the local animals pulling off one massive heist.

Between the rich stop-motion animation, Wes Anderson’s trademark aesthetic, and the pitch-perfect vocal performances from Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Willem Dafoe, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is both one of Anderson’s best movies and a top-tier Roald Dahl adaptation. But fear not — we have so many other films that you can turn to after you finish watching.

Look, what can we say? We love an animated heist, especially when its characters exist in a deliciously moral gray area. The criminally good “The Bad Guys” stars Sam Rockwell as a smooth-talking anthropomorphic wolf who leads a crew of criminals that terrorize their city with near-constant robberies and other shenanigans. But the unthinkable happens when they’re caught, and the governor pushes for noted philanthropist Rupert Marmalade IV (Richard Ayoade) — who is, of course, a guinea pig — to attempt to rehabilitate the ragtag group of ne’er-do-wells. And what’s more … it actually works. 

In spite of everything, Wolf realizes that helping people gives him more of a rush than stealing ever did, and his conflicted feelings begin to jeopardize the team’s next big mission. And as the so-called evil characters — a wolf, a snake (Marc Maron), a shark (Craig Robinson), a tarantula (Awkwafina), and a piranha (Anthony Ramos) — draw closer to their upcoming heist, they have to grapple with the question that also plagued Elphaba: Are they truly wicked, or have they had wickedness thrust upon them?

There’s something about Roald Dahl’s writing that lends itself perfectly to the look and feel of stop motion, and 1996’s “James and the Giant Peach,” helmed by “The Nightmare Before Christmas” director Henry Selick, is no exception. Fleeing his cruel, hateful aunts (basically a staple in Dahl’s work), James (Paul Terry) somehow manages to travel inside the titular giant peach, which grows not only large enough to house a single boy, but a crew of insects who are now roughly the same size as him. 

It’s with these characters that “James and the Giant Peach” finds its charm, as each of the bugs has its own unique personality and are delightfully brought to life by a top-notch cast of voice actors, including Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, and David Thewlis. Together, they embark on a grand adventure that takes James far from the clutches of his miserable aunts all the way to the fabled city of New York — and along the way, he learns about the unexpected joys of found family.

When Neil Gaiman sets out to tell a children’s story, you know right away that it’s going to be at least a little bit twisted. And that’s certainly the case with “Coraline,” another dark Henry Selick-directed stop motion adaptation about the titular girl (Dakota Fanning) who moves to a new house with her parents and, frustrated that they’re too preoccupied to pay her any attention, seeks out a new family via a creepy little door in her wall. 

But these new parents, while seemingly warm and loving, are also ever so slightly off – and that’s before they encourage her to replace her eyes with buttons. To avoid ending up like the countless children before her who fell for the charms of this alternate reality, she’ll have to find a way to escape back into the real world. Dark and unsettling in a way that kids’ movies used to be before we started getting overly worried about their emotional wellbeing, “Coraline” is an eccentric delight.

If you liked the writing style of “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” you’ll find plenty to enjoy in the definitive big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s most famous work, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” In it, young, desperately poor Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) finds a golden ticket that grants him entry to a tour of the famous Wonka chocolate factory along with four other lucky children. But as they’re led around by the dryly eccentric Willy Wonka himself (Gene Wilder), it isn’t long before the children’s lack of obedience gets the best of them. 

The characters are enjoyable, even as they continually break the rules, with Wilder standing out in a career-defining turn as Willy Wonka, a mercurial figure who the audience can never quite figure out. Is he entertained by the children or ambivalent to them, sadistic or generous and caring? The answer is probably neither, or both, who’s to say? With endlessly imaginative set design and some standout musical numbers (except for “Cheer Up, Charlie,” which really doesn’t need to exist), “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” stands the test of time.

Maybe the thing about “Fantastic Mr. Fox” you like the most is the fact that its lead character is a sly, charming fox. We’re not judging, by the way — there’s a reason these critters are a staple in animation. If that’s the case, you’ll love “Zootopia,” which sees con man fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) reluctantly team up with do-gooder bunny cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) on a case that delves deep into the prejudices that exist within the seemingly idyllic Zootopian community. In it, society is split between predators and prey, and the former are always regarded with a certain level of suspicion by the latter. 

And at the point we meet our protagonists, the fragile peace between these groups is further threatened by an increasing number of predators “going savage,” becoming a danger to themselves and others. Is it predators simply giving into their primal nature, or is there something more nefarious at play? And most importantly, who benefits most from them being deemed unsafe and facing new restrictions? “Zootopia” is one of Disney’s most thoughtful and nuanced productions in quite some time — even if most people only remember the visual gag of the DMV being operated by impossibly slow sloths.

We defy you to look into the deep, soulful eyes of Babe (Christine Cavanaugh) himself and not fall in love. We’re always going to watch a movie with talking animals and “Babe” is one of the best of the bunch. Based on the 1983 novel “The Sheep-Pig,” “Babe” tells the inspirational story of an intrepid young pig who, in addition to learning about the world around him, dreams of becoming a sheepherder. But he’s not exactly an obvious choice for the role — this is, after all, a job traditionally taken on by dogs, not pigs. 

But no one can keep this little porker’s indomitable spirit down for long, and he accomplishes his goals with the help of his trusty sheep and loyal human, Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell). You might think that “Babe” would be a lightweight kids’ film with little impact, but it was actually a huge box office success and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture, director, and supporting actor for Cromwell. It ultimately took home the Oscar for best visual effects, making this porcine picture certified gold.

In “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” we root for Mr. Fox even though he’s a thief, because the people he’s stealing from are greedy, selfish, and cruel, hoarding far more resources than they could ever hope to use. So the parallels to the ultimate folk hero Robin Hood, committed to celluloid in animated form with Disney’s “Robin Hood,” are obvious, even if both characters weren’t represented as foxes.  A hip, stylish production with a soundtrack full of bangers — including the Oscar-nominated tune “Love” which sharp-eared viewers will hear briefly play in “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — the film gives us all the greatest hits of the classic English tale, but with its characters represented in animal form. 

Robin Hood himself (Brian Bedford) is one of the most impossibly smooth cartoon creations we’ve ever seen, bringing all the populist charm we’ve come to know and love from the folk figure (and who’s impeccable character design led more than one child to have an inexplicable crush on him). But even his adversaries, weak-chinned lion Prince John (Peter Ustinov), sly little snake Sir Hiss (Terry Thomas), and dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham (Pat Buttram), are impeccably brought to life. Frankly, it’s one of the best adaptations of “Robin Hood” — even if it did face some criticism for obviously reusing animations from previous Disney movies.

Maurice Sendak’s seminal “Where the Wild Things Are” has to make the short list of the most read children’s stories ever, so it was only natural that it would eventually be made into a feature film. Even though the short and abstract story made squeezing a coherent, feature-length narrative out of it a tall order, director Spike Jonze was up to the task, in the process delivering an unforgettable family adventure. The cinematic adaptation stars Max Records as the young Max, who is dealing with the big feelings of not just being a kid, but having to process both his parents’ divorce and his mother (Catherine Keener) beginning a relationship with someone new. 

Naturally, it’s a lot to handle for a little boy, so the only response he can muster is to go feral — a choice that sees him travel to a new world populated by monsters, who deem him their king. Filled with gorgeous character design and a youthful spark that stays true to the spirit of the original book, “Where the Wild Things Are” is a dreamy ode to the chaos of childhood.

Come on, just look at this little shell. It’s got shoes on! “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” based on the charming series of YouTube short films created by Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate, is one of the quirkiest, most endearing animated films we’ve seen in quite some time, and that’s saying something. It stars Slate as the titular Marcel, a young seashell who teams up with Dean (Fleischer Camp), a documentarian who ends up staying in Marcel’s home. 

Although Marcel used to have a big family, these days it’s just him, his grandmother (Isabella Rossellini), and his pet ball of lint (which we definitely count as family). But with the help of a human-sized ally, Marcel might just be able to track down the rest of his missing seashell community — especially once his presence becomes known to the world at large through Dean’s increasingly popular videos. Impossibly charming and quietly devastating in equal measure, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” gives us hope that there will always be filmmakers capable of creating something genuinely original.

While Wes Anderson’s unique brand of stop-motion animation has gained notoriety, he’s got nothing on the Oscar-winning team across the pond at Aardman Animations, who have been honing their singular style for decades. In 2000, they released their first feature film with “Chicken Run,” the story of a group of chickens, fully aware that they’ll be killed and eaten once they outlive their usefulness, on the hunt for new methods of escape. A bleak existence, one might say, especially once they learn that their owners are purposefully plumping them up in preparation for the opening of a chicken pot pie factory, making their need to flee more dire.

Hope arrives in the form of Rocky Rhodes (Mel Gibson), a cocky American rooster who they believe has mastered the art of flight — a surefire way for them to escape their prison. A clever animated take on “The Great Escape,” “Chicken Run” brought Aardman’s style of animation, popularized by the earlier “Wallace & Gromit” short films, to the big screen in unforgettable fashion.

Although Wes Anderson primarily works in live-action, every once in a while he dips his toe back into the same realm of animation that made such a mark on audiences with “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” with stop-motion featured in later directorial efforts such as “Asteroid City” and “The Rat Catcher.” 2018’s “Isle of Dogs” is his most prominent example of this, being Anderson’s only other fully stop-motion feature to date. Set in a strange futuristic Andersonian version of Japan, it revolves around the titular Isle of Dogs, also known as Trash Island, a mandated quarantine zone where the government orders all dogs to be relocated as an outbreak of canine flu rapidly spreads. 

But the one person unwilling to go along with it is 12-year-old Atari (Koyu Rankin), who’s dog Spots (Liev Schreiber) was placed on the infamous isle. Unwilling to be separated from Spots, he steals a plane and ventures to the island, desperate for them to be reunited. But along the way, he’ll have to team up with a ragtag group of canines, all of whom have good reason to distrust humans, particularly their volatile leader Chief (Bryan Cranston). The film represents Anderson’s growing dexterity with the medium, resulting in two Academy Award nominations in 2019 for best animated feature and best original score for Alexandre Desplat.

“Christopher Robin” wasn’t written by Roald Dahl nor directed by Wes Anderson, but it might as well have been. Unlike the sweet and light tone of regular Winnie the Pooh stories, “Christopher Robin” has an undercurrent of darkness that makes its melancholic atmosphere especially profound. In it, Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) has grown up and left the Hundred Acre Woods behind him. Now he’s just an ordinary, stressed out middle-management guy with a soul-crushing day job and exactly zero magic left in his life. 

That is, until he’s reunited with Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings), who helps him get in touch with a part of himself he’d long thought lost. Is it heartwarming to watch Christopher Robin rediscover that sense of joy? Yes. Is it soul-crushing to watch him shout at Pooh, when the poor little bear has no way of understanding why his very best friend is so frustrated? Absolutely. “Christopher Robin” eventually gets to an uplifting place, but hoo boy, does a little part of your soul die along the way.