Cluster Cuss

My favorite childhood authors include Ann M. Martin and Roald Dahl. I read almost every Babysitters Club book there was, I will forever thank whichever parent it was that had the great idea to pay for me to be in that book club. They delivered three to my door each month, including special collections and something extra for my birthday each year. I hope I am accurately remembering the joy those books brought me- because some of my favorite moments at 3221 Lakeland Court are sitting under a blanket that was over the heat vent with a quilt, Kristy, Mary Anne and the rest of the club.  

I have already written about the wonderful world of Matilda my favorite Roald Dahl story, click here if you missed it. But today we are watching the film adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox. This film is animated, but I am not sure if it is claymation, like Wallace and Gromit. I think it is for sure stop motion. Actually it sort of looks like the foxes are puppets. Anyway it is directed by Wes Anderson so it has some of the familiar actors lending their voice talents that find themselves in other Wes Anderson movies adding in George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr. and Mrs. Fox. The film and the book are similar in story but not exactly the same. 

One of my favorite parts of this film is the fact that there are no swear words in the movie. They use the word cuss instead. It brings a smile to my face. Against his wife's better judgement, Mr. Fox goes back to his old ways, stealing from the three mean farmers that live around their tree. Mr. Fox gets greedy and it results in his tail being shot off by the three farmers, who are hell bent on killing Mr. Fox because he stole chickens, goose, turkey, and cider. The Fox's dig down and far away to escape the three angry farmers. It appears as though things are safe, but then gallons of alcoholic cider are introduced to the story and whoa! You need to see the rest of the film for the end of the story. One of the morals of this story is that Mr. Fox has a desire to make everyone think he is "fantastic" that he does not make the best decisions for himself and his family. 

I had some trouble coming up with an RA program with this film. I am not sure that the moral I saw when watching this film was actually intended by Mr. Dahl. I did find it interesting that the animals in this film put bandit hats on when they start a mission. Well except for Ash, Mr. Fox's son- he wears a tube sock. Maybe instead of planning a program, you should get together with your residents, make some bandit hats out of old tshirts, and teach each other karate or spend 30 minutes meditating. As a residence life professional I feel I have to discourage mischief publicly, so avoid mischief.