It's no surprise that the director ofMarch of the Penguinsshould follow up that Oscar-winning effort with another film brimming with breathtaking footage of animals and their environment. But Luc Jacquet'sThe Fox and the Child(Le renard et l'enfantin its original French) is considerably more than a nature documentary; it's also a fantasy, a fairy tale, a family film, and perhaps even a comment about the relationship between humans and the animal world. Jacquet also wrote the script, which tells the story of a girl of perhaps 10 (played by Bertille Noël-Bruneau, with Kate Winslet supplying the voice-over narration) who's wandering through the forest near her home in mountainous eastern France when she encounters a fox and impulsively decides to "tame" it. The process whereby she earns the animal's trust is sweet (and very gradual, as we pass through several seasons en route), but what really distinguishes these sequences is the astonishing cinematography, with a seemingly endless parade of breathtaking vistas and brilliant colors, along with an impressive array of local fauna (lynx, bear, hedgehog, deer, wolves… you name it). This is unquestionably grade A family fare, but while Jacquet manages to convey the child's sense of wonder and curiosity, it is not a kids' film, as there are several genuinely scary moments--the fox, whom the girl names Lily, is in serious jeopardy more than once, and the girl's night in the forest, lost and surrounded by spooky noises, is potentially the stuff of nightmares. And that's not even including the ending, when the child, as people will do when confronted with cute, furry creatures (and the fox isveryappealing), considers trying to take Lily out of her own world and into the humans'. That caveat aside,The Fox and the Childis a wondrous piece of entertainment.--Sam Graham