I am so excited for the fall edition of the buddy movie watching I do with my friend and fellow blogger, Lisa, over at Boondock Ramblings! We wanted to watch some fall movies together and really couldn’t pick one lane. Or maybe I couldn’t, because that sounds like me. So we have a list that we compiled that moves from feeling all cozy autumn that moves into sort of creepy, then boop! Back to cozy again! We wanted movies that made us feel all snuggly, that made us want to get under blankets and drink tea, and then we wanted a little extra thrill for around Halloween. And I think we were successful in our list making! Feel free to watch along with us!

This week we are not just doing one movie, but two, and it has me all kinds of happy. I happily settled down Saturday night in my super comfy pajama pants, a cup of mint tea with honey, and my honey, Billy to watch the first up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and from the moment it began I was glued to the screen. (sorry for the cheesy joke…)

This movie is a visual treat, and perfect for autumn with all of its super warm tones of yellow and orange. I have said time and again in this space that I am a sucker for a beautiful movie, and that even includes stop action animation. Also, Wes Anderson! I love Wes Anderson! He managed to capture the spirit of the book and blend it with his own style and aesthetic in the most perfect way. Or should I say, fantastic way?

This movie sticks to the core of the book, with Mr. Fox being a clever little fox vs. the villainous farmers, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (one fat, one short, one mean..) The movie added a bit more to the plot to fluff it out a bit more, with the addition of nephew Kristofferson, Ash and his foibles, school, etc, and fleshed out the life of the animals more. In this version, Foxy is a former thief, and a very good one at that. However, he promises his wife Felicity (voiced by Meryl Streep!) that he will give us his thieving ways and get a safer job. So, he does, and becomes a newspaper man. He is suave, he is sophisticated, he is clever, but lives in a den underground, like foxes usually do. Foxy though, has higher aspirations and ambitions, and moves his family to a beech tree, right in the middle of a highly dangerous neighborhood, one occupied by none other than the farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. And here the madness begins.

Oh Foxy. He causes So. Much. Trouble! Not just for his family, but for all the animals in the area, who are none too happy with him. And neither is his wife, Felicity. One of my favorite scenes is one where Felicity is giving him a piece of her mind, and she asks why he didn’t keep his promise to her, and he says, “Because I’m a wild animal”. And I thought what a great line, what a great moment. Because despite everything, he is who and what he is. A wild animal. They may be little animal versions of newspaper reporters, artists, lawyers, doctors, but they are all wild animals first and foremost. This actually becomes a much deeper theme later in the movie, that is expanded upon in a wonderfully fantastic way.

There is another scene that I loved just as much. Foxy and his gang are out on a mission, when in the distance, they spot the most wild animal of all, the wolf. There is this pause, a weighty pause full of emotion, more than you would expect from a movie like this, as the characters take in the majesty of what they are seeing.

It gave me goosebumps.

The voice actors all did a fantastic job (yes I am going to keep using that adjective) – George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, and Michael Gambon who managed to be 100% Gambon-ish even in the role he was voicing. And I loved how instead of swearing in this movie, the used the word “cuss”, where there would be a cuss word. So very very clever.

So, does Foxy beat the farmers? Are his family and friends saved? Well, you will just have to watch and find out!

You can find Lisa’s thoughts here!

Next up is The Secret World of Arrietty, another movie based on a children’s book. Arrietty is based on the classic The Borrowers, and oh do I love it so much. I want my whole house to look like their house. Anyway, that is for another day – Thursday, in fact.

This is our list of movies by the way. We do have some break weeks built in, so stay tuned for which weeks are break weeks!