I have seen this described as a family film and heartwarming when it is neither. The first half an hour is rather like a Disney film. Then it shows a hunt in all its dreadful blood letting. It shows us what a primitive blood letting which was fox hunting.

This serious drama starts off on a sad note when a group of hunters kill a mother fox and her litter of kits when they find her nursing them in the woods. It's a bit laughable, actually, because the small dogs they use to dig into the den are as fou-fou looking a group of dogs as you can find. But a mysterious person comes along afterwards at night, finds a fox cub still living, and takes it to his friend Eric Porter who has a nursing mother dog foster it. One of the mother dog's puppies takes a shine to it, and they become inseparable which makes it difficult when the fox grows up and hunting season begins. They live near where fox hunts are held, and the obviously somewhat tamed fox is now on the loose, in danger of being mauled to death by the angry hound dogs trained to hate fox.

Certainly, there are many amusing scenes of the fox and the hound growing up together, either playing outdoors in the growing heather with equally playful wild rabbits or making a mess when accidentally let into the house while Porter's wife, Rachel Roberts, is away. Heather Wright, as the daughter, particularly comes to love her new found kit. The scene of Porter yelling at the fox to "git!" is heartbreaking because those haunting fox eyes look on in confusion. The hound, his best buddy and brother, and Porter are the family he's never had, and it reminds us why wild animals should never be taken in as pets, because it is as cruel to dump them when their natural instincts take over as it is to hunt and kill them for sport.

What makes this interesting is the fact that Porter knows fellow fox hunters personally, and when word gets around, he is ridiculed for aiding a fox and a potential fox chasing hound into becoming friends. Indeed, the hound is unable to properly hunt (a natural hound trait) after the fox (named "Tag") is let loose. This isn't so much about the performances, although everyone is very good, as it is about the moral of the tale. Unfortunately, there are many human subplots which take away from the enjoyment of seeing this beautiful critter go from a coal black kit to the orange beauty we've all come to know and love when we get a rare opportunity to see arguably one of the most adorable and possibly lovable wild animals God created and left for us to view from afar.

This is not an animal film for children as evidedenced by the aftermath of the hunt sequence where the hounds cross a train track with a train approaching around the bend. It leads to a lot of carnage and is quite shocking. even for adults. If anything, this reveals all the more reason why fox hunts deserved their demise long before they ceased to exist. Porter, who is presented as decent at the beginning, becomes progressively unsympathetic, obsessed with revenge against Tag for leading the hounds to their death. This makes the film a strange drama of man vs. nature and the obsessive nature of an all too proud man who is unaware that you can never truly beat mother nature. After a while, it truly becomes just an unpleasant viewing experience.

I really enjoyed this movie, although it was a little slow in places.

It documents well the undeniable cruelty and arrogance of the British hunting community without showing too much gore.

I couldn't help thinking during one particular scene, as I'm sure many people who have respect for British wildlife will, it's a shame about the hounds, I wish it was the huntsmen lined up on those railway tracks.

I hope that this film will continue to be watched by future generations and that it may help children to love nature and understand why torturing and butchering native wildlife or any animals for pleasure is wrong and further encourage them to condemn and shame those involved in this cruel 'sport'.