Below are Mini Reviews from Cineman Syndicate for three films opening on Friday, November 13, 2009.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Wes Anderson's idiosyncratic style and children's author Roald Dahl's cozy-yet-edgy imagination are a perfect fit. Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) uses stop-motion animation and scruffy puppets to champion Dahl's vulpine hero who, tiring of domesticity, plots to steal poultry from farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Along with his appetite for backyard adventure and sense of humor both sly and silly, the director's fetish for elaborate costuming and decorative details is given free reign. Add superb voice talents -- Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman -- and music by composer Alexandre Desplat for an enjoyable and altogether unusual movie experience that's purposefully rough around the edges. (PG) GREAT ANIMATED COMEDY. Director - Wes Anderson; Lead - George Clooney; Running Time - 88 minutes. 

PIRATE RADIO. If you overlook their manipulative shortcuts and eagerness to please, certain movies can function like a feel-good spritzer. Richard Curtis' Love Actually did and so does his second directorial effort. In 1966 Britain, the government has banned rock 'n' roll from the airwaves but gaggles of merry disc jockeys circumvent the law by broadcasting from ships trawling the North Sea. On one such vessel, a fresh-faced teen hopes to lose his virginity and rival vinyl spinners (Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans) feud. Meanwhile back on terra firma, a hidebound minister (Kenneth Branagh) schemes to shut them down. Phony yet fun, thanks mostly to a marvelous soundtrack. (R) FAIR COMEDY. Director - Richard Curtis; Lead - Philip Seymour Hoffman; Running Time - 115 minutes. 

2012. Master of Disaster Roland Emmerich lives down to his reputation with what amounts to the biggest snuff film of all time. During an end-of-days cataclysm allegedly anticipated by the Mayans, billions of people bite the dust so that CGI effects wizards can cruelly test the limits of what's plausible and palatable. As Earth's crust breaks apart, quakes and tsunamis dismantle civilization and rearrange the continents. But take heart. Doomsday brings out the best in a White House geologist (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a divorced science-fiction writer (John Cusack). The script's cornball clichés spark more laughter than the intended jokes, which constitute gallows humor of the grandest, most tasteless kind. (PG-13) BORING ACTION-THRILLER. Director - Roland Emmerich; Lead - John Cusack;  Running Time - 158 minutes. 

(Capsule reviews by John P. McCarthy)

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