The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

A boy wandering through a snowy landscape meets a mole, and the two begin travelling together. They are later joined by a fox and a horse, and the four form an unexpected bond as they search for the boy's home. Along the way they talk about kindness, courage and hope, and what it means to look after one another. The short animated film adapts Charlie Mackesy's illustrated book of the same name.

The film is directed by Peter Baynton and Charlie Mackesy, from a screenplay by Jon Croker. It is Baynton's first feature-length directing credit, followed by The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland in 2024. The voice cast includes Jude Coward Nicoll as the boy, Tom Hollander as the mole, Idris Elba as the fox and Gabriel Byrne as the horse. J.J. Abrams, Cara Speller and Hannah Minghella produced, with Bad Robot, the BBC and NoneMore Productions among the companies behind it.

Running 35 minutes, the film was released in December 2022. It has been well received by audiences, scoring 7.8 out of 10 on IMDb from around 22,000 votes and 8.2 out of 10 on TMDB, where the vote count is smaller. A critics' rating of 8.2 out of 10 from eight reviews places it in line with the audience response.