"Wolf Scene" in Fantastic Mr. Fox

Just yesterday I re-watched Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I know that movie is usually a hit or miss for most people, but I loved it.  Pretty much the whole movie is so awesome and filled with great lines but there is one scene, in my mind, that stands out. A scene, for seemingly unexplainable reasons, which is emotional and chilling.  I just call it “the wolf scene”.  What happens is Mr. Fox, his son, nephew, and Kylie the possum are riding back on a motorcycle just after escaping the clutches of humans, and all of a sudden Mr. Fox stops the Motorcycle and the camera changes  to show a black wolf in a snowy backdrop. The following conversation ensues:

 Whenever I ask people if they like Fantastic Mr. Fox or not, and they answer yes, I usually follow up with the question, “what was your favorite scene”. 99% of the answers are “the wolf scene.” But when I ask them why they liked it so much they could never give an answer.  So shortly, I’m going to try and pry at what makes this scene so great.

First off, there seems to be some really strong connection going on between the wolf and the Fox.  What the connection is im not quite sure but it is possible that the wolf represents a personal fear. Throughout the movie, and in this scene, Mr. Fox expresses his fear of wolfs and I feel like this scene is possibly about him overcoming his fears and turning it into something beautiful instead.  This explanation kind of makes sense because after he bro fists with the wolf he says, “what a beautiful creature”. Possibly signifying that what he feared wasn’t anything scary at all but actually something beautiful.

Wolf representing fear is one possibility, but maybe we could even go further and say that it is his fear of the wild.  This movie portrays the animals like human beings, so maybe it’s saying that human being are fearful of the wild, but we must conquer our fears and once we do, we will see how truly beautiful nature is.

Well, those are just speculations and if anyone else has another possible explanation as to why this scene is so awesome that would be great.