I finished reading Fantastic Mr Fox to the kids. I loved siting up in my bed or on the couch with a kid on each side listening to every word I read.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easily Sawyer let me read the book. It took a few days longer than I expected because the kids were in an evening VBS all last week. By the time we got home and the kids were ready for bed, it was just too late to read.

Movie time! I hadn’t seen the movie Fantastic Mr Fox, but Avery had. She said it was nothing like the book. Avery mentioned to a friend of mine that we were almost done with the book, then we’d then watch the movie. My friend had seen the movie and was surprised that it was a children’s book. From what she could remember the movie wan’t “really a kids movie.” Mmmm, what’s the movie like?!?

We finally watched the movie and… Avery was right, not much like the book. My friend was right too… not really a kids movie. The screenplay was written by Wes Anderson, whom Dan loves. Wondering if Wes actually read the book, or just read a 4th grade book report? He had the same actors as his other movies do the voices; George Clooney, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson… The story in the book was pretty simple… the movie version was complicated and full of “adult humor.”

A major part of the “adult humor” that Avery picked up on is “cuss.” They used the word “cuss” to replace all bad words. “What/why the cuss?” “Are you cussing kidding me” “Why the cuss…” “I’m going to cuss you up.”  “That cussing animal…” “This is a cluster-cuss.” I have to admit I did find humor in these lines… but Avery didn’t know what the word “cuss” was before watching this movie.

All in all I’m glad we read the book and watched the movie, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I definitely suggest reading the book, but not watching the movie.  The book is a simple story and a quick read with lots of pictures. The movie has nothing to do with the book, not really a kids movie and full of adult humor.

 Since we finished this book we started  Stuart Little. Sawyer wasn’t interested at all and Avery said she could wait to read it. Then we started James and the Giant Peach. Sawyer got “too tired” during the second chapter, but Avery was loving it. We will try again tomorrow night with James. I hope Sawyer starts to like. It does have less pictures than Fantastic Me Fox.