Cinema Trips - 'Peter Rabbit'

Peter Rabbit is the feature adaptation of the characters created by Beatrix Potter. The story is about a family of rabbits, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, Benjamin Bunny, and the titular Peter Rabbit, trying to infiltrate the vegetable gardens that belong to the McGregor family.

CAST:

• Peter Rabbit - James Corden (Into the Woods)
• Bea - Rose Byrne (X-Men First Class)
• Flopsy - Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad)
• Mopsy - Elizabeth Debicki (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
• Benjamin Bunny - Collin Moody (The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader)
• Old Mr. McGregor - Sam Neill (Jurassic Park)
• Cotton-Tail - Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
• Thomas McGregor - Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Despite the relatively simplistic story of the film, it manages to tackle some complex issues that are relative to everyone. Dealing with the loss of family members, finding one's priorities in life, when to put one's ego to the side, the strength of being truthful, and above all, the importance of love for both your family and a significant other. It tackles these issues by sandwiching them between a thick layer of humor and an even thicker layer of charm.

The humor in this film is extremely meta, constantly referring to itself as a film, integrating conventional filmmaking techniques into the joke as well. For instance, calling out the slow motion walk towards the screen used by likes of The Right Stuff (1983) and many films since, while adding variety by simpler modes of humor that worked primarily due to the sheer likability of the cast and the voice talent.

The brunt of the emotion is felt through Peter Rabbit, through James Corden’s voice acting and the interactions that he has with the rest of the cast. In addition there is a visible change within Peter Rabbit fro the start of the film to the end of the film. The two highlights of the film, personally were the Star Wars alumni, Domhnall Gleeson and Daisy Ridley. Gleeson essentially played General Hux only instead of leading the First Order to hunt Rebel scum, he was the floor manager of a Harrods and is hunting the family of pesky rabbits. Playing the character with such a degree of over the top seriousness that makes it humorous and endearing towards the end of the film. Ridley and her character Cotton-Tail stole every scene that she was a part of, bringing a manic energy that increased the enjoyment of every scene she was a part of. Praise must be given to the filmmakers for resisting the urge to overuse the character as it may have run the risk of becoming tiresome very quickly. Yet using her sparingly managed to wet the appetite to anticipate the next scene she would pop up in and what she might do.

The visual effects of the film were impressive, managing to integrate CGI with the live action characters and the setting incredibly well through a majority of the film. Thereby bringing a visually pleasing yet faithful look to the screen with regards to the animals. The film goes so far as to have fully animated sequences in the original Beatrix Potter style, paying homage to the original works.

The one negative I have is the choice of song, which takes you out of the movie anytime one starts to play, which comprised of modern day numbers in the pop charts. This may end up being the only detractor making the film seem extremely dated in the years to come.

If you are reading this at the time of the film's theatrical release, I would recommend going to see it in the cinema for the price of a matinee (Or silver screen if in the UK at an Odeon). If you are reading after it has been released on digital and physical media, I would recommend renting it to see at least once.