The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is a 2022 animated Short Film (34 minutes) directed by Peter Baynton and Charlie Mackesy by The BBC which was released outside the United Kingdom on Apple TV+.
It is based on Mackesy's novel of the same name. A boy, wandering around a wintery, snow-covered landscape, meets a mole who comes up out of the snow. They quickly becomes friends, and the mole joins the boy, who is "lost", in search of a home. The boy and the mole meet a fox, who is at first predatory and aggressive, but who becomes friends with the boy and mole after the mole helps him out of the trap. Finally, there is, yes, a horse, whom the friends meet in the forest and who becomes the fourth in their little family. He lets the others ride as they go off in search of the boy's home.
Members of the voice cast include Tom Hollander (the mole), Idris Elba (the fox), and Gabriel Byrne (the horse).
Tropes:
- All of the Other Reindeer: Horse in truth actually a majestic Pegasus, but hides his true self, mainly due to the other equines being intensely jealous of that fact. The boy explains his true friends love him, whether he can fly or not.
- Aloof Ally: After being befriended, the fox still keeps his distance from the group, until he finally warms up to the idea he doesn't always have to be alone.
- Androcles' Lion: The fox, when he first encounters the boy and the mole, tries to eat the mole. Later, however, the boy and mole find the fox in a snare, and the mole frees him. Afterwards the fox becomes their friend, first rescuing the mole from drowning in a river and then joining them on their journey.
- Animated Adaptation: Of Charlie Mackesy's novel.
- Bluebird of Happiness: The boy decides 'home' is not a place, it's wherever your loved ones are. He waivers going to the village forever, to stay with the mole, the fox, and the horse.
- Call-Back: As they're riding on the horse, the mole observes that it's hard to say "I love you," so he, the mole, instead likes to say "I'm glad we're all here." At the end, as they're dropping the boy off outside the village, the mole again says "I'm glad we're all here."
- Civilized Animal: The three animals basically act like animals, with the fox being a predator (until he turns nice) and the mole being prey who burrows in the ground. But they all talk.
- Credits Gag: The mole keeps talking about how much he loves cake and really wants cake. The end credits show cakes appearing on corners of the screen as the mole crawls all over the names and credits trying to get to the cakes. Finally he reaches one and eats it.
- Deus ex Machina: "There's something I haven't told you. I can fly."
- Family of Choice: The boy has been looking for a home. Finally the animals drop him off in front of the village, where he can go in and find a home. But instead he turns around and goes back to his animal friends, saying "Home doesn't have to be a place."
- Line Boil: Seen in both outlines and the colors of the various figures, as befitting a hand-drawn cartoon.
- No Animals Were Harmed: "No cakes were harmed in the making of this film."
- "Pan from the Sky" Beginning: The short opens with a shot of the cloudy sky on a winter day, before panning down to find the boy alone in a field of snow.
- Pegasus: The horse drops a surprise on the others out of nowhere: he can fly. Sure enough, he magically sprouts wings, then flies his companions to the village the boy has been searching for.
- P.O.V. Cam: There's a POV shot from the reeds of something watching the boy and mole, then a POV shot that approaches the boy and mole as they take shelter under a tree. It's the fox.
- Protagonist Without a Past: The boy, the film opens with him lost in the wilderness far from any civilization and he doesn’t seem to have any memory of any family or even a home, his own name nor do we learn where he came from.
- Running Gag: The mole's obsession with cakes. He thinks a tree is a cake. When the boy wonders just what a home is, the mole says it's someplace with bright lights and a cake in every window.The boy: That's a cake shop.
- Thunder Equals Downpour: The group's attention is drawn by a clap of thunder, and only then do they notice the black clouds approaching. The rain storm rolls over them moments later.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Mole apparently loves cakes, as he frequently mentions them, and wanting them, to the point that when he describes "a home", the Boy says "that's a cake shop".
- White Stallion: The horse is a beautiful snow-white stallion who is later revealed to actually be a Pegasus.
- Wild Child: Downplayed, The boy starts off the story lost in the wilderness and he doesn’t seem to have a memory of his own past, having a family or a home even though he is clothed and is by no means feral, however by the end when he and his animals companions finally reach a human village he rejects finding a home and instead decides to stay with his animal friends.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The boy often doubts his self-worth, but the horse, like a loving father-figure, reminds him he is loved. One day he'll learn to love himself as much as others do.
