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Author
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Topic: Peter Rabbit (2018)
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 05-18-2019 10:43 PM
Contains plot spoilers.
Apologies if this is now so old as to qualify for the afterlife, but no-one appeared to review this when it was in theaters. My local supermarket was selling the 4K BD for $10 and my three-year old son is a huge fan of Beatrix Potter's Tale of a Fierce, Bad Rabbit, so it seemed like a no brainer.
I was pleasantly surprised. I was hoping that it wouldn't simply be an attempt to animate Beatrix Potter's watercolors, both because that would forever spoil the way children approached the books in future (they wouldn't bother reading, because they could just see the movie), and because the story is just so well known that a straight film adaptation would have little to interest the adults who will inevitably be watching along with their kids.
The movie opens with Peter raiding Mr. MacGregor's garden - a scene lifted straight from the book. He is caught, and, just as he is about to be turned into a rabbit pie, Mr. MacGregor promptly drops dead from a heart attack (which, it is later explained, was caused mainly by an unhealthy diet) and is taken away by "a big ice cream truck with red flashing lights," as one of the other rabbits describes it.
Enter MacGregor's nephew, a Londoner and manager at Harrod's, who inherits the house and tries to go rural. "City boy goes to the country and ends up wishing he hadn't" is a tried and tested plot device, though more in the horror genre than children's films (Straw Dogs, I Spit On Your Grave, Inbred, etc.). They did a nice job in adapting it.
MacGregor's new neighbor, "Bea" (a character clearly supposed to be based on Potter herself, though if you know that she didn't move up there until she was a lot older than the character in the movie, you'll have to suspend your disbelief on that score), adores furry animals in general, and rabbits in particular. MacGregor Jr., however, loathes them even more than his uncle. This sets up the resolution phase of the plot: he has to reconcile his dislike of furry creatures with the fact that he fancies Bea. There then follows a few scenes that appear to have been inspired by Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry - MacGregor Jr. tries traps, electrocution, and even high explosives to rid himself of the rabbits, who outsmart him and see to it that he becomes the victim of his own offensives.
I won't reveal any more, other than to comment that the filmmakers did a very good job of keeping both children and adults entertained at the same time. I doubt if existing Beatrix Potter fans will find anything to be outraged about. Acting, direction, visuals and music were competent but nothing memorable, but the script is definitely a cut above what you'd expect from this sort of movie.
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