The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox

If you're a fan of this legendary story that they made into a movie. This book is a great buy. Pictures are stunning and storyboard is amazing. Brought it for my 12 year old but still a fun read for adults as well.

This is book is wickedly joyful to read. But first a caveat:I love the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie and I've seen it probably more than a dozen times. Love blinds, they say. It provides vivid behind-the-scenes look at Wes Anderson's creative process for this movie. And tells the story of how the movie came to be. It goes through everything from what drew Wes to the story to how he came to acquire the rights to the story, the cast of main characters, the never-seen animation hands, a couple of cut scenes, etc. It shows how an already fascinating story can be jazzed up to engage the senses in every way possible. There are details that I missed watching the films several times, that come to life in this book. Like the text of the news paper article, which I imagined was just gibberish, but it turned out it's an engaging newspaper column written with a ton of wit and care for developing a complete character (image attached here). Such is the level of detail that went into making this movie and is beautifully chronicled here. The format is beautiful and works well without beating the reader over the head with tiresome details of the process. It intersperses interviews with spectacular stills and simple line sketches in an easy to follow format. I read this book cover to cover in one sitting. Stop-motion students will smile in awe reading this book. Casual readers who love the movie won't be bogged down with technical details of rigs, sets and character costumes but will find themselves drawn to the artfulness and attention to detail that went into creating this work of art (the film and the book). Like many great works of art, the work screams of deep care and has a hand-made quality to it. The photos in the book are first-class quality and the writing invites the reader into this fantastic world of animated puppets, how they're given life and character and presence. The beautiful semi-glossy dust jacket covers a ravishingly colored hard cover that seems to come from the color of the sky in the opening shot of the film. And like the film itself, little about the design of the book seems merely accidental. I love it.

First off, I love every part of the movie and I really like seeing how it was made. This book has a lot of great behind the scenes pictures and concept drawings. The pictures themselves are of pretty good quality. There are a couple of fuzzy pictures, but the vast majority are great. The drawings and paintings by Turlo are awe-inspiring and are a great addition. The text in the book is mostly comprised of general interviews about the movie and the book. I would have liked some interviews with the animators, modelers or designers showing how they made the puppets, animated them, or the artistic choices that were made. Showing pictures of armatures, but having text discussing why a certain voice was chosen makes the pictures and text seem disjointed. This isn't a major complaint though, as the pictures and interviews are interesting enough. If you are fanatical about this movie like I am, then you should certainly buy this book.

I got this as a gift for a friend, and she loved it! It’s a little smaller than I expecting, but had a lot of fun pictures.

It was delivered in mint condition, no damage. So far I've had a blast looking through it and seeing how production went for this film, it's one of my favorites and seeing all of the work and love put into it is just the best.

While it is true that this book is nothing more than a cobbled together (if not elegantly cobbled together) collection of interviews, production stills, illustrations, and notes from Wes Andersen, it is undeniably a joyful read for the fan and an important read for anyone interested in cinematography or animation of any kind. The real value to be gained for those latter readers is inside Wes's chicken scratchings and liner notes. I learned that even people who can't draw can direct an animation. Also, the people who work with Wes are as important to the final outcome as Wes himself. Wes's persnickety attention to detail at first glance might seem arbitrary, but as I continued to reflect on the film, I realized that without that keen eye and without his industrious crew, this movie simply would not shine as brightly as it does. This has helped me immensely in my own work. Now instead of thinking, "Uff, so fussy!" I wonder, "Hmm, perhaps this is a Wes Andersen moment, where this tiny detail that feels so unimportant is really going to put the spit and polish on the final product." Give it a read for the pictures, for the commentary, for the insights.

You should purchase this book if: 1. You enjoyed/liked/loved the film "Fantasic Mr. Fox" 2. You are an animation fan/historian/buff. 2a. Specifically, stop-motion animation 2b. With created puppets. 3. You like reading or collecting "Making Of" books about films. Well, I loved this film, I'm an animation fan, and I qualify for item three. At first I was hesitant to get this book, but it was the option to not have to pay shipping if I bought this book and the soundtrack and had them shipped together which convinced me to get the book as well. The book itself is amazingly detailed. There are interviews with Liccy Cahl (Roald's wife), Eric Anderson (voice of Kristofferson and brother of Wes), Jason Schwartzman (voice of Ash), and even Wes Anderson himself (interviewed by Michael Specter, who also wrote the book's introduction). The book is broken into sections based on "chapters" in the film - not necessarily the chapters as they are divided on the DVD . What I find amazing to look at, though, is the concept art for the film, particularly the characters. The art by Félicie Haymoz, Huy Vu, and Chris Appelhans really stands out too, especially Félicie's. One last interesting tidbit other reviewers may not mention: The font and back endpages contain interesting bonuses that may interest some people: The front endpages have a dope sheet used by animators to mark out the timing of puppet movements, as well as camera and lighting changes, for the "Kylie, is he telling the truth?" scene. The dope sheet details every single frame of that scene, what shape/sound the character's mouths need to be making, the frames in which something moves, and the waveform (sound) of the actor's voices. The rear endpages show us a segment of Alexandre Desplat's orchestral score for the "Whack-Bat Majorette" track in the film. As a piano player, I was intrigued to see the parts for every single instrument a segment in the song as I listened to it. Anyway, to sum up, this book makes an excellent add-on on top of a purchase of the film and/or its soundtrack. It makes a great gift to someone you know who likes the film!

Got this for my baby for her birthday. She freaking loves it. The book is gorgeous.