Sly Fox

I love the idea of young auteurs like Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson taking on children's classics, and I'm a serious die-hard for all things Anderson. (Even his lesser works like The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) or The Darjeeling Limited (2007)are visual marvels to dissect.)

So I was just tickled when walking last Thursday on the Upper East Side, I caught sight of some of the actual animated figures and sets from Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) propped up in the windows of Bergdorf Goodman (pictured above, sorry shabby camera phone!). This row of general stores, delis, law offices, and more, made the Barbie Dream House of my youth look like the work of pre-schoolers.

Anderson has taken his painstaking attention to detail to new heights in this stop-motion animation flick, forbidding the use of any CGI to create everything from grass (terry cloth) to water (Saran Wrap).

I stood chatting and gawking with another onlooker about how life-like the little creatures looked (real fur was used) - as well their habitats. Anderson has them wearing real corduroy suits, for instance, albeit tiny versions of Savile Row tailoring. It's a worth a walk on the East Side to peep!