The Fox And The Child review

Lovers of director Luc Jacquet’s epic polar doc March Of The Penguins be warned. His first drama – a charming, small-scale tale of a French moppet’s year-long attempt to befriend a fox – is sweetly involving and gorgeous-looking (think Blue Planet meets Disney’s ’60s animal actioner The Incredible Journey), but it’s without doubt a tots’ movie, which means there’s way less life-and-death tension than his huge penguins-in-peril hit. As perky red-headed 10-year-old Bertille Noël-Bruneau roams free through the stunning landscapes of the French Alps, closely following her vixen pal’s progress from mating season through to motherhood (dodging lynxes and wolf-packs along the way), Jacquet’s pace mimics the unhurried rhythms of nature. Kids will be hooked, but adult viewers may yearn for something a bit racier, with fewer cute field-mice and more fox fucking.