The pairing of beloved children’s novelist Roald Dahl with quirky American director Wes Anderson isn’t the most obviously successful artistic teaming that our screens have seen this year, but Fantastic Mr. Fox, a proudly, gleefully old-school animated production, aptly balances the witticisms of two very different writers, making for a unique, and admittedly rather strange trip into a genre that’s now largely dominated by Pixar’s immaculate CGI productions.

The film revolves around Mr. Fox (George Clooney), a fox (unsurprisingly) who survives largely by stealing poultry from three unscrupulous farmers – Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (one fat, one short, one lean) - and his wife, Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep). However, after several near misses, and Mrs. Fox giving birth to a son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman), Mr. Fox is convinced by his missus to enter into a safer and more stable career, and thus becomes a newspaper reporter. However, when Mr. Fox plans one last scheme to rip off the three farmers, things go awry, and he must devise a plan to save the animals of the valley.

There is certainly a lot to admire here, although one remains sceptical about just how appropriate or even appealing the film is for children beyond its cleverly retrograde animation style. It’s not so much that the film deviates from Dahl’s tone, and in fact, the core premise remains very faithful, but Anderson piles on an existential subplot that I fear my alienate a younger audience. Generally, the film does a decent enough job at balancing witty jibes with slapstick gags for the kids, but there are several laughless troughs in the film that may make younger viewers quite restless.  For adults, though, the clever execution generally makes it a real hoot, although I imagine adults and kids alike will be similarly bemused by the strange, surreal musical interlude during the film’s mid-section, featuring Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker appearing as Petey, a character near-enough styled entirely on Cocker himself.

What undeniably works is the film’s sheer style; with character models that resemble lavishly-dressed pipe cleaners, this is a delicious time warp back to the more primitive animation age of the 60s and 70s, but it’s also cleverly economic, and considering that Anderson rather lazily directed the animators by proxy from an iPhone in Paris, it’s a real testament to the technical team (and not really to Anderson) that the film is this cohesive.

Also incredibly strong is the vocal cast; it’s difficult to imagine anyone but Clooney or Streep in these roles, but the unqualified delight of the production is surely Jason Schwartzman as their son, Ash. His portrayal of a young fox desperately seeking his father’s approval (who instead treats Ash’s good-at-everything cousin, Kristofferson, like his own son), is agreeably attuned to the quirky neuroses depicted in Anderson’s other films. It would also be remiss not to mention Bill Murray as Badger, a self-professed demolition expert who becomes at odds with Mr. Fox for creating this incendiary situation with the farmers. Speaking of the farmers, Michael Gambon is well-cast as the menacing leader of the farmers, Bean, and there are also a few other smaller cameos from Anderson regulars such as Owen Wilson as Coach Skip, and Willem Dafoe as the evil Rat employed by Bean to guard his cider stock.

Thankfully, the pacing is mostly lightning-fast (aside from the aforementioned Cocker cameo), and at 87 minutes, there’s really not enough time for your kids to fidget too much, but make no mistake, this is as much a film for adults as it is children. I’m not entirely convinced that Anderson’s subtle and curious comic style really befits a young audience, but the vibrant, odd animation style and slapstick gags should keep them from losing the plot. For older audiences, this is a caper with some depth; the thematic material is usual Anderson material, and he does a good job at melding Dahl’s story with his own narrative concerns, although there are of course his usual quirks and indulgences. Nevertheless, after the dud that was The Darjeeling Limited, this is a sign that Anderson is back on solid form with more focus and less posturing to the hipsters.