I just don’t get it.

It’s Christmas Eve and we want to watch a movie. We flip through all the On Demand channels. Hundreds of movies, and none we want to watch. Oh the woes of modern American entertainment. So we end up deciding to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 93% on the Tomatometer. That’s fantastic. Ebert gives it 3 and a half stars. Those ratings give me the justification I need to spend a couple of hours of my time.

What I end up seeing is a quirky, very different,  animated story. I always get a kick out of the movies that advertise “actors” like  George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe as participants in a movie when all they contribute are the voices for the animations.

This is a Roald Dahl (the children’s ‘horror story’ writer) story made in to a movie by Wes Anderson.

I admit, all the people who participated in this work are very talented and creative. I laughed a few times, I was amused a few more times, I marveled at the quirky movie making and animation, and I enjoyed some of the dialog. But I did fall asleep in the middle of it, and when I woke up I kept wondering why in the world I was spending time watching this. I missed a portion of the story, but that did not seem to matter.

I  find absolutely no redeeming value here, I don’t know why people spent creative energy to make this movie. I don’t know if it’s a children’s movie. It seems like one, but it must bore the hell out of children. What is the point? Don’t they have anything better to make a movie about, something more interesting or valuable?

I am puzzled. The critics all loved this. See for yourself at the links above.

But I just don’t get it.

Rating: *