‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse’ Review – A Sweet Tale of Friendship and Unexpected Connection

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (2022) began life as a bestselling 2019 book. Written and illustrated by Charlie Mackesy, who serves as co-screenwriter and co-director of the adaptation, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is a warm and diffuse look at friendships between the four title characters. Presented in a bevy of styles and hues, the book emphasizes moments of emotional growth over a driving plot. A curiosity coming into the adaptation was how the creative team would reshape that structure. The result is a 35-minute animated short that delivers the book’s hallmark charm in a more Christmas-special-friendly package.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse begins with the Boy (voice of Jude Coward Nicoll) drifting alone in a snowy field. He shortly comes across the Mole (voice of Tom Hollander), who joins the Boy on a quest for home. Their travels take them into the wild, where they encounter the Fox (voice of Idris Elba). At first violent before mellowing into a pensive group addition, the Fox carries on with the Boy and the Mole. Before long, the Horse (voice of Gabriel Byrne) joins them. The four solidify into a merry band of travelers. Together, they follow the river hoping to find the Boy a home, reflecting on their strengths, fears, and selves while they go. 

Mackesy and Jon Croker’s choice to hang this envisioning of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse on a homeward quest is a keen one. It is evocative yet accessible for the foundation of a short clearly aimed at a younger audience. Even so, while watching The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, one can sense the tension between a newly imposed structure and the more nebulous nature of the book. At times, in working to preserve specific exchanges or messages from the book, the short struggles to wed contemplation and forward progress. The book allows readers of any age to linger when struck by a phrase or image. The nature of film precludes that, resulting in an adapted script that is always endearing if never quite absorbing.

Where The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse unequivocally shines is in its animation. Mackesy’s book illustrations married curling pencil marks with vivid watercolor. The animators use it for inspiration, maintaining the pencil-drawn quality at the character’s edges. It lends the aesthetic a lovely storybook quality, splitting the difference between media. Each of the four characters is crafted with marvelous personality in each swoop and splash. The colors are vibrant yet inviting in the way only winter scapes quite achieve. The whole of the film is gorgeous, but there are a handful of images that truly astound. The Boy and the Mole sitting in a giant tree reaching up to the night sky behind them. The Horse waiting in a birch stand. 

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse also excels when its cast rises to the fore. Elba has steadily perfected a style of gravely voice acting that sees him fit swimmingly into misunderstood curmudgeons like Fox. Byrne locates a tender sadness, almost Eeyore-like, for the Horse. He is the wise older leader, even if his experience has tired him. Sticking with a “Winnie the Pooh” comparison, Nicoll imbues the Boy with a Christopher Robin mix of wide-eyed wonder and melancholy. The star though is Hollander as the Mole, who steals every scene. With a cake obsession to rival Paddington Bear’s marmalade addiction, Hollander is bright, funny, and cozy all at once. For an actor often typecast into nebbish or overly mannered roles, it’s a delight to hear him have a ball here. 

Premiering on Apple TV+ this Christmas Day, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse clearly has aspirations to join the likes of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and The Snowman (1982) as a part of the yearly roster of specials that families circle up to enjoy. While not as strong as its compatriots, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is an undeniably sweet and beautifully rendered tale of friendship and unexpected connection. 

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse premieres December 25th on Apple TV+ Those in the United Kingdom can watch it on the same day on BBC1.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbdem4g_LEc]