Reviews

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Only show reviews with written explanations

rmdsb's review against another edition

3.0

I read the English version as a child and enjoyed it, and I've just finished reading the Welsh translation as an adult Welsh learner. Despite the sexist tone (it was written a long time ago), I still enjoyed it - it's a quick read, easy to keep up with the story (pictures help), and I learnt new vocabulary ('earth pig' and 'smiling dog' are just some examples).

emmas07's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

dullshimmer's review

Go to review page

5.0

Fantastic Mr. Fox is remarkable in a few regards when it comes to a Roald Dahl book for me. It is the first book I've read of his that has an anthropomorphic main character. Often, his books have a kid as a main character, but here it is Mr. Fox. It's also my favorite of Dahl's shorter stories.

Basically, the story is about Mr. Fox and his family. Mr. Fox steals food from three rather unsavory farmers nearby. They get fed up with the Fox and vow to kill him if it is the last thing they do. I mean they really go nuclear trying to get them digging up a whole hill with big mechanical shovels and everything.

Now as you can tell the story isn't particularly interested in realism. Most farmers don't go off digging up hills with shovels to find a family of foxes and if they did the foxes probably wouldn't really be able to out dig them. This isn't the enjoyable part of the story though. I guess I liked it because it felt a bit Robin Hoodish and an underdog story. Mr. Fox and family are stealing from the three farmers, but they are presented as both well off and rather nasty men so you can't help but cheer on Mr. Fox and family as they escape them and wind up victorious.

I wound up really enjoying this little book. It was a simple enough story that it worked as a short story, but was also an enjoyable little tale. Sure it's a bit light and fluffy and not very realistic, but I enjoyed it. It is my favorite short story from Dahl so far, by quite a good margin.

zuzubaloox's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Mr. Fox has been stealing from the local farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean, for years, and they have had enough. They decide to exact revenge on the wily fox by killing him and his family. Mr. Fox has other ideas and isn't going to let himself or his family go without a fight. Will the farmers get their revenge? Or will Mr. Fox manage to evade being shot and save his family?

Overall, the story isn’t bad, despite some questionable morals. There’s stealing, which everybody knows is wrong, but there’s also the positive of helping your neighbours when they’re in need. It just wasn’t, in my opinion, a very gripping story. It was a lot of repetition in a way and not a lot else.

Mrs. Fox kept on remarking on how fantastic a fox Mr. Fox was. But is he? Maybe had I been about seven years old, my opinion would have been different, but as an adult, I can't help but think he didn't do anything slightly fantastic.

Spoiler

Okay, his actions saved his family and the other animal families that lived inside the hill, but it wasn’t exactly fantastic. He was doing what he always did: stealing, just underground instead of above.

I wonder how their little commune would survive into the future, considering how many animals are usually predators and prey to each other.

However, I did think the questions at the end of the book were quite intriguing for the younger readers, considering they were about the book. It added a nice touch to see how much they remembered from the story.