Cinema Review: The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales


Posted July 31, 2018 in Cinema Reviews

Directors: Benjamin Renner, Patrick Imbert

Released: 3 August

The animals residing on a farm present three tales for your entertainment, amusingly breaking the fourth wall (each tale is introduced by the titular fox on a stage as the animals can be heard nervously preparing backstage). One tale follows the hapless exploits of a lovably imbecilic duck and rabbit duo who try to deliver a baby to a family because the stork is too much of a lazy prima donna to do it himself; tale number two involves another fabled character acting against type: a fox who’s so lacking in ferocity that his efforts to eat the farm’s chickens just result in scornful indifference; the final tale follows the duck and rabbit from before as they mistakenly think they’ve murdered Santa Claus, believing they must now do the noble thing and take his place.

If the above sounds too wacky, the film’s gently dawdling pace more than tempers the action. Archetypal characters are subverted with an inventive irreverence without the film ever becoming too knowing or resorting to cheap pop-culture references. While there is freshness to be found in these tales, the narrative stays true to a sense of timelessness. The hand drawn aesthetic also aids in this impression, with some of the characters not looking fully rendered at times, giving things a shaggy-dog charm.

Inherently episodic, the film can’t quite win as much emotional investment as a Pixar or Studio Ghibli film might, but the charming array of uniquely silly characters (brilliantly brought to life by a game English voice cast, replacing the original French) more than make up for this. And sometimes it’s nice not to be emotionally bludgeoned by a kids’ film. The film doesn’t overstay its welcome, coming to a close just around the time you start wondering when it might.

Joyous fun for tots and adults alike.

Words: Rory Kiberd

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