Movie Thoughts: Fiery Fox (2024)

• Released: April 20, 2024
  
• Directed by: Dmitry Shpilenok
• Running time: 1h 21min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

Documentary about a fox named Wind and his mate Lava as they have to protect and feed their family.

My Thoughts

My first Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam movie ever! About time I got to see a few of their films after years of wanting to go.

This is a solid documentary about a fox named Wind. Wind's family is killed when he is just a kit and he grows up alone. As a young-adult he meets another fox named Lava and he eventually becomes her mate. Together they have a family, and now they must look after their kits and protect them against danger.

Overall yeah, like I  said, I think this is a solid documentary. If you like foxes and pretty nature shots, here you go. It does feel a tad juvenile at times (mostly due to the voice-acted narration told from Wind's POV) but I think adults can enjoy this movie as well.

However, the narration does bring the movie down a bit for me. The juvenile tone aside, the narrator doesn't emote very well and at times sounds rather disinterested in situations that call for more emotion in his voice. 

The soundtrack also didn't always feel tonally consistent and like it fit. Most of the documentary is scored with more orchestral-sounding music, but then in one or two of the goofier scenes the sound totally changes to something more modern and funky. Which just tonally didn't feel like it matched the rest of the soundtrack much and kinda took me out of the movie.

So yeah, solid movie, but not perfect. Bit too juvenile for my taste and the voice acting of the narrator/Wind could've been better.