Review: Crush + Color: Twentieth Century Foxes

Illustrated by Maurizio Campidelli

Available now from Castle Point Books

Review copy

I think all of Maurizio Campidelli's Crush + Color coloring books are good fun, but the Twentieth Century Foxes pun in particular cracked me up. I think this is the first book in the series not to cover a single actor. Actors not pictured on the cover include Antonio Banderas, Patrick Swayze, Pierce Brosnan, and more. All have more than one coloring page. An index might have been a nice addition to this one.

Thankfully, the actors are identified on each page just in case I didn't recognize them. Their names are always used in the short fantasy bubble that appears opposite the coloring page. Only one page in a spread is designed to be colored and the pages are perforated, allowing for the pages to be removed and either shared or used for decoration.

The art on these pages goes almost to the edges, but there is a small border. I find most of the images appealing from a coloring standpoint, with a mix of detailed areas for when I want to focus and bigger areas for when I want to zone out. I feel like Campidelli is great at laying out a coloring page. The paper is nice too, much better than a children's coloring book. I used markers on one page without bleed-through to the next coloring page.

I do think that Campidelli's likenesses vary in quality. I don't particularly like his Denzel Washington or George Clooney. But I think his Antonio Banderas and Kurt Russell are great. There is more detail to the faces than the rest of the page, which doesn't always work for me.

Overall though, I very much enjoy this coloring series and think Crush + Color: Twentieth Century Foxes is a fun addition. These coloring books have a fun sense of humor and appealing subject matter.