Someone at FOX thought it would be a fantastic idea to have Wes Anderson, the guy known for such fun family friendly films as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited... and have him direct an animated kids movie. The result can't be too surprising. Despite all the hype and positive press. Despite a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Despite all that, The Fantastic Mr. Fox quietly fell out of the top 10 this week after only a month in release. Its grand total during the family friendly weeks leading up to the holidays, 14 million dollars.

What's the problem? The problem is the same as another holiday kids movie from WB, Where the Wild Things Are. The problem is that when you let hipsters direct movies, the result will be entertaining for them and for no one else. Just watching the trailer for The Fantastic Mr. Fox alone will inject anyone with a sense of ennui. Which is what Wes Anderson does really well and which is not what kids want.

The listless voice acting from George Clooney who built a career on looks, not talent, only makes The Fantastic Mr. Fox that much more of a depressing experience. We can set aside the claims about racism, Roald Dahl, the author, after all was a well known bigot and generally unpleasant person. Or Wes Anderson signing on to a petition on behalf of a guy who happened to have drugged and raped a 13 year old girl by the name of Roman Polanski. The bottom line is that few kids when confronted with this movie were anything but listless. And so The Fantastic Mr. Fox proved to be not very fantastic after all.