Directed by Luc Jaquet, who previously - and most famously - bought us "March of the Penguins," here subsequently brings us "The Fox and The Child." The plot is quite slight, as you could describe it in one sentence: A young girl encounters a fox in the forests surrounding her home, and so tries to get closer to it. Of course, this one sentence plot is deceptively simple. By trying to get closer to the fox, the young girl wants to get literally close enough to the fox to touch, but also close enough to it for it to be her animal friend. But as well as that, the plot allows room for such subject matter as fox hunting, domesticity vs. nature, coming-of-age, and the folly of trying to tame forces beyond your control. The crisp, highly defined photography of the forest, the mountains and its wildlife inhabitants is absolutely astounding. Just utter jaw-dropping, breathtaking, knock-out beauty that can scarcely be believed. To merely describe the sights seen in this film would be an injustice. They must be seen to be believed. For any children that watch this, the film will delight them to no end. For adults, this is equally true. The fox of the title - or foxes, as there were numerous foxes used to portray just the one - is, without speaking or emoting in any human terms, quite a fantastic fox. (But not a Mister, as it's a female fox. Just, y'know, FYI.) But a problem that I DID have with the film is its narration, read by - in the English version - Kate Winslet. To me, the narration is far too story bookishly read, and a bit clunkily written, too. As a personal preference, I'd have rather the film had no narration at all, and just let the wonderful images speak for themselves. Or if not that, I wish the narration had at least been written a bit better. Other than that big flaw of the film, it's a joyous experience of a film that anyone can enjoy (up until a certain dark, morbid and tear jerking bit near the end, which needs to be there) and that if you can catch it, you should most certainly give it a go. =))
