George Clooney has finally been out-cooled.

Who thought it would take one children’s book, 10 tons of Play-Do and $30 million to do it?

Yes, George Clooney the puppet is actually cooler than George Clooney the actor, icon and suburban mom bedroom muse. Wes Anderson’s choice of Clooney to voice Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox title character might be the single best piece of film casting. Ever. As a slick, quick-witted fox with an appetite for danger, Mr. Fox is elevated by Clooney’s pipes alone from compelling animated character to mini stop-motion lothario that 99 percent of all women would sleep with.

OK, I’ve creeped myself out now.

Don’t let the man crush get in the way of my unconditional love for “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a liberal adaption of a magical children’s book that tells the story of the Fox family and all their wild friends.

Wes Anderson, whose pre-“Mr. Fox” status floated from minimalist comic genius to overexposed smug recluse, shows he can direct more than a iPhone commercial these days. And that he doesn’t need Owen Wilson’s crooked nose to be his unofficial movie mascot. On the contrary, Anderson’s vision is sure-handed and his stop-motion animated treatment of the material is such a perfect fit that he should consider making it his thing. (Tim Burton shouldn’t have kept the back door unlocked.)

We meet Mr. Fox as a reformed chicken thief, now settled down as a newspaper columnist in a humble underground hovel with spitfire wife Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) and weirdo son Ash (Jason Schwartzman). But with a need for action still percolating in his pelt, Mr. Fox relocates the family to a new tree tenement - against the wishes of his lawyer, Badger (Bill Murray).

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The reason? The Fox family’s new digs now reside within the line of fire of three fearsome farmers – Boggis, Bunce and Bean – whose fresh stocks of chicken, geese and hard cider are enough to get Mr. Fox back in "the game."

Yes, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is part heist flick, part family dramedy. Besides the fact that our caricature redneck hunters fire real bullets at our animal buddies, and our foxes in turn grab a few midnight snacks in the henhouse, this is a much more saccharine show than your typical Anderson comedy. There are no suicide attempts to depressing Elliot Smith ditties or unexpected human carnage. But there is father-son bonding and subtle, ironic humor that will have you smiling more than guffawin’.

And don’t forget the painstaking and inventive detail put into posing and shooting these delightful puppets at a mere 12 frames per second. Then reposing, reposing, reposing, etc.

“The Fantastic M. Fox” is the first book Anderson owned, and it’s bound to be his most successful movie. I won’t say Anderson & Co. have gone mainstream, but I think I just saw George Clooney wearing Wranglers on “Good Morning America.”

Sometimes, it’s better to be way cool than too cool.

“The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” rated PG and with a running time of 87 minutes, is now playing nationwide.

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