Story
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales is a three-act movie. In the first act, highly strung Pig (Justin Edwards) is roped into delivering a baby for an injured stork after incompetent Rabbit (Adrian Edmondson) and Duck (Bill Bailey) volunteer to do it. Rabbit and Duck try numerous harebrained schemes that always go wrong, while Pig tries to keep one step ahead of the chaos to get the baby delivered in time.
In the second act, hungry Fox (Giles New) is tired of eating turnips. He enlists the help of wily Wolf (Matthew Goode) to find food. Together they hatch a plot to take eggs from mother Hen (Celia Imrie), raise the chicks till they’re fat and juicy, and then eat them up. But the chicks believe that Fox is their mother and Fox falls in love with the chicks. The chicks soon learn to defend themselves, and Fox and Wolf learn lessons in humility.
In the last act, Duck and Rabbit think they’ve killed Santa after their attempt to rescue a Christmas decoration goes horribly wrong. They set off to save Christmas with Pig’s help. While they make many mistakes and nothing turns out they way they hope or plan, they end up in the right place at the right time. It looks like they might just save Christmas after all.
Themes
Abduction; Santa; Christmas
Violence
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales has some violence. For example:
- Pig attacks Rabbit and Duck after they demolish his garden while trying to help him.
- When Duck and Rabbit try to catapult a baby back to its home, they accidentally catapult Pig instead. He flies through the air and returns looking angry and dishevelled.
- Rabbit and Duck fight over a steering wheel, which breaks off and causes the truck they’re driving to go over an embankment into a lake. This throws all the passengers into the bushes, except for the baby who lands on a lily pad.
- Giant fish with huge teeth chase Pig in the lake.
- A hunter shoots Rabbit with a tranquilizer dart. Duck attacks the hunter.
- The stork is catapulted away from the farm.
- Mother Hen hits and kicks Fox repeatedly.
- Fox and Wolf pretend to fight.
- A bunch of hens chase and hit a dog and later attack a wolf.
- Rabbit and Duck blow up a lawn mower.
- Rabbit and Duck crash into a woman at the shops and are taken away by animal control officers.
- In an animal shelter, some dogs threaten Rabbit and Duck. There’s some kicking.
Sexual references
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales has some sexual references. For example, when the baby is accidentally left on the wrong doorstep, an elderly woman calls to her husband and asks whether he remembers ‘that night …’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales shows some use of substances. For example:
- The stork drinks a cocktail from a wine glass.
- Rabbit acts strangely after being shot with a tranquiliser dart.
Nudity and sexual activity
There is no nudity or sexual activity in The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales.
Product placement
There is no product placement in The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales.
Coarse language
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales has no coarse language, but there is some name-calling. This includes occasional use of the word ‘idiot’, as well as ‘smelly Wolf, ‘wimpy Wolf’, ‘big, fat, stupid Wolf’ and ‘bum bum face’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales is a collection of simply animated short stories. It has been seamlessly dubbed in English from the French original by an outstanding cast of British actors. This movie is suitable for family audiences and is likely to appeal to younger children.
The main messages from this movie are to never stop trying. There’s always a way if you just work hard enough, be truthful and patient, and believe in the impossible.
Values in this movie that you might like to reinforce with your children include persistence, determination, teamwork and responsibility.
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like using things in ways they’re not meant to be used – for example, using a shopping trolley as a sleigh or putting a lit match in the petrol tank of a lawn mower to make a rocket. Duck and Rabbit often behave in silly and dangerous ways, but there are no realistic physical consequences for their actions.