The Fox and the Child

G

2007

1 hr. 36 min.

Kids & Family

Drama

List

50%

30 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

The story of a 10-year-old girl and a mountain fox who form a magical bond while traveling through the wilderness. Set against an array of stunning French and Italian backdrops, this tale follows the unlikely duo as they get lost in caves, encounter a fleet-footed lynx, an eagle, slippery frogs, and a pack of mean-looking wolves, while all the time the seasons change.

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Critics Consensus

Jackanory-esque voiceover from Winslet lends a syrupy tone to this mawkish and slow, but beautifully shot, human/beastie buddy movie.

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Audience Member

The kid might be imaginative, but also so self-centered. Annoyed me a lot more than it should have, but as a parent I grounded that kid like 10 times.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great story for 5 th grade book reporting.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This was a very sweet and touching film, and my children were drawn into its magic. Very whimsical, but it is lovely that there are bits of insight into animal life, though some of that came from what we discussed during different scenes, but nice that a little bit of wild life is combined with whimsy and sweetness.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Maybe The Sequel "Great White Shark Takes Child", Will Be Just As Thrilling As This Convoluted Snore Fest. All It Aimed To Do Was Be An Environmentalists Wet Dream, With Blatant Bias, By Swaying Every Twist & Turn In Story Toward 'Ohh, That Poor Fox', How Ever Will It Survive...I Kept Thinking Of All The Native Animals These Pests Unphasingly Kill. https://panique.com.au/trishansoz/animals/fox-european-red-australia.htm

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

(*** 1/2): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] A beautiful and touching film.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Directed by Luc Jacquet, who had won worldwide critical and commercial acclaim for March of the Penguins (2005), picking up an Oscar on the way. For his next film, he wanted to do something semi-autobiographical, some which was partially based on his childhood. What we get is one part nature documentary and one part fairy tale, and it makes for a winning combination, and it's something that's seldom seen on film these days. In the Jura Mountains in Eastern France, a young girl (Bertille Noël-Bruneau) spends most of her days out in the countryside, exploring and taking in what she can see. One day, while riding her bike to school, she encounters a fox, when the girl tries to get closer, the fox runs away, but the girl becomes intrigued and wants to see the fox again. She spends months looking, and she finds the fox again, and even though the fox is nervous, she manages to bond with the fox, they go on adventures in the mountains, where they encounter a dangerous wolf pack, but the girl becomes obsessed with the fox, which does start to scare the poor fox. It's a lovely film, and done in an innovative way, where they got the nature footage done first, and the story was built around the footage, but it is visually stunning, even if there is no plot to speak of, but that doesn't matter, it's still an enchanting film to look upon.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

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Luc Jacquet

Director

Bertille Noël-Bruneau

L'enfant

Isabelle Carré

Narrator

Thomas Laliberté

Le petit garçon

Luc Jacquet

Screenwriter

Eric Rognard

Screenwriter

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Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

The result is Nature seen through the eyes of a solitary and fanciful child with Jacquet intensifying the theatricality of it all by playing around with scale, amplifying every sound and raising the wildlife count.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 17, 2009

Full Review

Evan Williams

The Australian

The Fox and the Child is more than a wildlife documentary. It invites us to contemplate alternative worlds of sensation and experience, to enter the consciousness of other species, to explore our contacts with them.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 17, 2009

Full Review

Ruth Hessey

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

There's plenty of scope for sentimental tears, but I hope most children will go away with something punchier - a longing to observe the natural world in this much detail, and a new respect for the difference between owning something, and loving it.

Jul 10, 2009

Full Review

David Aldridge

Radio Times

The photography is stunning, and the essential sweetness of the story should ensure that younger audiences at least are riveted.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 30, 2020

Full Review

Sarah Manvel

Cinemattraction

Sure, it's important to teach children the difference between wild and tame animals, but is this a lesson that modern suburban children, who barely see a squirrel, should learn like this?

Feb 10, 2019

Full Review

Don Groves

sbs.com.au

A gentle, rambling adventure in the wild.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 3, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

The story of a 10-year-old girl and a mountain fox who form a magical bond while traveling through the wilderness. Set against an array of stunning French and Italian backdrops, this tale follows the unlikely duo as they get lost in caves, encounter a fleet-footed lynx, an eagle, slippery frogs, and a pack of mean-looking wolves, while all the time the seasons change.

Director: Luc Jacquet
Screenwriter: Luc Jacquet, Eric Rognard, Luc Jacquet, Eric Rognard
Production Co: Bonne Pioche Télévision
Rating: G
Genre: Kids & Family, Drama
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 2, 2009

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