Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Wes Anderson expands Dahl's short adventure into a family story without sanding away its appetite for defiance. The stop-motion bodies make ingenious theft and badly managed pride equally tangible. This is a freer adaptation whose added anxieties give the adults something to recognise while the farmers remain formidable opponents. The spirit lies in unruly intelligence and survival, with Anderson's own rhythms openly present.