Vuk (film)

Infobox Film
name = Vuk: The Little Fox


caption = DVD Cover
imdb_rating =
director = Attila Dargay
producer =
writer = István Fekete (novel) Attila Dargay István Imre Ede Tarbay
starring = Judit Pogány (young Vuk) József Gyabronka (Vuk) Teri Földi (Íny) Gyula Szabó (Kag)
music = Peter Wolf
cinematography = Irén Henrik
editing = János Czipauer Magda Hap
distributor =
released = 1981 (Hungary)
runtime = 76 min
country = Hungary
language = Hungarian
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Little Vuk"
mpaa_rating =
tv_rating =
imdb_id = 0131636

"Vuk" (1981) is one of the most well-known Hungarian animated films, based on the novel "Vuk" by István Fekete. Along with "Cat City", it is widely regarded as one of the ultimate classics of Hungarian cartoon making. It was marketed in English-language countries as "The Little Fox". Directed by Attila Dargay, it features the voice talents of Judit Pogány as young Vuk, József Gyabronka as adult Vuk, László Csákányi as Karak and Tibor Bitskey as the narrator. A computer animated and widely panned sequel, "Little Vuk", was released in 2008.

Plot

The film tells the story of a little fox kit, Vuk, who ventures away from his family's den and, upon his return, learns from his uncle Karak that his entire family has been shot and killed by a human hunter. Karak then offers for Vuk to stay with him, and Karak continues to raise him.

As Vuk grows older, he develops much cunning and cleverness. Now a young adult fox, he finds a vixen held captive in a cage on a human farm. He tricks the guard dogs and other animals, as well as the hunter himself, and eventually helps the vixen escape.

She joins Vuk and Karak in the woods, but unfortunately, Vuk's foster father is killed by humans during a hunt. Vuk swears revenge on the hunter and finally accomplishes it, playing many jokes on the hunter's stupid dogs and eventually on the man himself. At the end of the film, we see Vuk and his wife having cubs of their own.

Vuk Synopsis

Scene 1

In a forest in Hungary, Vuk, a little fox, and his siblings are put to bed, while their father, Kag, leaves to hunt. Vuk sneaks out to follow his father. Kag sends Vuk back, but instead of going home, Vuk decides to chase a frog.At a nearby farm, a dog named Vahur is trying to convince a rooster to crow in order to lure Kag to the farm so that he can catch him. Kag outsmarts Vahur and catches the rooster. The other neighborhood dogs hear that Vahur failed to protect the rooster. When one of the dogs asks him about it, he makes up a glorious story to save face. Kag heads back to his home with the rooster, but he sees a rabbit and decides to catch it. The rabbit is scared away by a gunshot, and Kag realizes that the hunter is out with his dog, Fickó. The dog finds the dead rooster, and the dog and hunter decide to chase down the fox. They find Kag and his family’s cave. Finally, Vuk returns from chasing the frog only to find his family missing. He waits for their return.

Scene 2

Just as Vuk becomes hungry and lonely, his uncle, Karak appears and brings him back to his home on the mountain where the hunter cannot find them. Vuk is unable to sleep and continually bothers Karak, who tells him that foxes should sleep during the day. Vuk, bored, chases a lizard, but accidentally falls off of the mountain. He spends the entire day climbing back up. Karak isn't angry and simply tells Vuk that as long as he has learned his lesson, Vuk did not do wrong. Karak then tells Vuk that he will teach him how to hunt, which excites Vuk greatly.

Scene 3

Karak teaches Vuk how to hunt and tells him that he must be as invisible asa shadow. Vuk attacks a porcupine, not knowing what it is, and hurtshimself. He then attempts to catch a cat, but scares him off in theprocess. The two then encounter the hunter's house, and Karak tellsVuk that the house spells certain death for any animal that approachesit. Vuk swears that he will have his revenge one day.Finally, Karak allows Vuk to go hunting alone. Vuk finds and captures a duck. Another fox, Sut, comes and commands Vuk to give him the duck because Vuk is hunting in his territory. Luckily for Vuk, Karak then comes and frightens the Sut away.

Scene 4

With time Vuk grows in body and spirit. One day, while Vuk is hunting, he finds the hunter’s house. After he captures and eats one of the hunter’s peacocks, he meets a female fox that the hunter has captured and locked in a cage. Vuk promises that he will come back with Karak, and together they will free her. On a very stormy night, the hunter and his dogs take cover inside the house, while Vuk and Karak come to rescue the female fox from earlier that day. They try to dig her out of her cage, but they can’t because of the iron bars and wooden base. Vuk digs up the wheels of a wagon and sends it rolling into the cage, breaking the female fox free. The dogs start barking inside, but the hunter thinks it is just because of the storm. The female fox decides to stay with Vuk and Karak, and they go to sleep in a meadow.

Scene 5

The hunter, Vahur, and Fickó go hunting for foxes in the woods. The foxes wake up, scared from tractor sounds in the meadow. Karak wants to flee into the woods, but Vuk scopes out the area and sees that the hunter is waiting for them at the edge of the woods. Vuk, Karak, and the female fox flee instead towards the tractors and escape the farmers, the hunter, Vahur, and Fickó. In a safe place, Karak announces that Vuk has grown up and can be on his own. However, Vuk decides to stay with Karak. The seasons change from spring to summer and from summer to autumn. Now it is hunting season again. The hunters hunt everything from deer to quail. They scare all of the animals out of hiding and shoot them. Vuk and his fox friends look for a place to hide from them. They finally find some covering where they can't be seen, but where they can still see the hunters and what is going on in the forest. Karak wants to leave the shelter and make a break for home, but Vuk tells him not to. Karak decides to go anyway, sacrificing himself to save the others, and the hunters spot him. As Karak is running, the hunters shoot him, and he falls down a cliff. Vuk and his female companion wait until evening for the hunters to leave, and then they go to find Karak, only to find him dying. His final advice is for them to stay together. Vuk and the female fox return to the cave. In the human’s yard, the dogs all gather to discuss Vahur and Fickó’s disgrace of letting the female fox escape. Soon, the human discovers that all of his eggs have been broken and all of his animals stolen.

Scene 6

The only remaining livestock are two geese, who are drunk. The human sends Vahur and Fickó to guard the geese, but Vuk distracts the dogs by throwing a bone and then covering them in flour. In the confusion, Vuk steals one of the geese, but Vahur and Fickó follow him through a loose board in the floor. While the other dogs gossip about Vahur and Fickó’s inability to protect the geese, the hunter cooks some meat to take with him into the forest. He sets fox traps with the meat as bait. Vahur and Fickó are searching for the fox, and they smell the cooked meat. Fickó warns Vahur that cooked meat is only for humans. Vahur does not listen, and they look for the meat anyway, only to both get caught in the hunter's traps. The hunter, hearing the sound of the traps, runs to see his prize, but is shocked to find his own dogs instead of foxes. He accidentally steps into one of the traps as well, and the three of them return home injured. Winter comes and goes, and it is spring again. Vuk, and the female fox, his new mate, now have quite a collection of their own kids, and they happily live in the cave together. This brings the story back to the beginning, and the circle of life is completed.

English Version

The English-language dub of the film, titled simply "The Little Fox", was made in 1987 and released in the United States on home video by Celebrity Home Entertainment. It was also broadcast from time to time on Nickelodeon's weekend programming block called "Special Delivery." The English dub changes Vuk's name to "Vik" and his wife's name to "Foxy," although Karak's name remained unchanged.

ee also

*List of animated feature films

External links

*imdb title|title=Vuk|id=0131636
* [http://www.filmkultura.iif.hu/articles/essays/images/vuk.jpgImage of Vuk with vixen and family] from [http://www.filmkultura.hu/articles/essays/anim.en.html this article]

*http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuk#VUK_SZINOPSZIS link in Hungarian with synopsis