Below we have the trailer for Wes Anderson’s upcoming film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl book. And it’s weirdly predictable, I must say. It’s a throwback to old-school stop motion, and it looks so authentic, it feels like I found something on late-night Spout TV (that’s a channel for the kiddies). But it’s also merged with Anderson’s style of conversational pitter patter. It’s actually kind of jarring — as though I were watching a series of stop-motion animals performing Anderson’s Bottle Rocket script. It doesn’t help, either, that the voice cast is distracting — it’s hard — at least in this trailer — to get into the Mr. Fox character because he’s so obviously George Clooney. I just picture a guy in a sound booth with a martini and two women in short dresses draped around his arms. I don’t think that’s what Anderson was going for.

With Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman also providing voices — and the script obviously 17 cuts above your average kiddie flick — it’s actually kind of difficult to tell who this film is marketed toward: Anderson’s hipster audience (me! me! me!) or kids with parents who are trying to steer them clear of CGI monstrosities.

It’s a really weird vibe, folks. And I don’t quite get it.

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.

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