Peter
Rabbit, directed by Will Gluck (Annie,
Easy A, Friends with Benefits) and based on the stories by Beatrix Potter,
tells of a rabbit in a blue jacket, and his animal companions, who try to claim
the McGregor property for their own, against the nephew of the farmer. Things
become even more personal, when the young McGregor becomes infatuated with a
young painter and friend of Peter’s, Bea.
After the ungodly apocalypse that
was 2017’s animation line up, I came to grips that Sony would have to actively
try their hardest to make a film that pissed me off more than anything, with
their previous three entries. I mean, The
Emoji Movie alone was such a pile of insulting trash, that I was ready to
immediately give up on this company all together. It was insulting as movie
goer, a film maker, a fan of animation, and a human being all around; and the
fact that it’s for kids is even worse, because kids deserve better than this
equivalent to keys dangled in your face (or a more accurate term: a rich man
taunting you as he steals your wallet right in front of you). When they released
Smurfs The Lost Village, it was too
little and too late to give this franchise another chance, after the two Raja
Gosnell travesties. As for The Star…have
you seen how cheap the animation looked in that film?
As you could imagine, when it was
announced that their first outing for 2018 was a live action-animation hybrid
of Peter Rabbit, I started looking at
some off signs. Considering this was the same company that put out The Smurfs movies, adaptations aren’t
something I quite trust them on. In fact, the movie looked like ANOTHER one of
those Smurfs or Scooby-Doo, or any talking animal movies, that just look so
half-assed. Not only that, but it also features James Corden as the voice of
Peter Rabbit. Don’t get me wrong, I like James Corden, but with this being this
fourth time voicing an animated character (Trolls,
The Emoji Movie, Norm of the North UK release), and the last one was such a
snobbish annoying hypocritical jerk, it started to make me feel sick of the
guy. Not only that, but this film had some pretty harsh controversy,
considering it features a supposed attempted murder……………WHAT?!?!?
After deciding to swallow my pride,
I decided to give another Sony movie a chance. Luckily, MoviePass made it a
little bit easier, so I didn’t feel guilty seeing this in theaters. What are my
thought on the movie? Is it as controversial as people say? Does it at least
make a somewhat decent option compared to Sony’s previous crap? In actuality,
this turned out to be a surprisingly decent movie.
The
best way I can describe it, is that the movie has the feel of a Warner Bros. or
Tom & Jerry cartoon; you have to
go into it with that kind of suspension of disbelief, if you really want to
enjoy this movie. I say this, because half of the antics that the characters do
is either dialed at 5 or 11, either being calm and neutral, to suddenly flying
through the scene like they just got shot out of a canon. Sometimes this can
work and be downright hilarious, but other times it goes into territories that
go a little bit too far.
The
animation on the animals, while it is noticeably CG, is actually surprisingly
good. The detailing on them whenever they’re silent makes them look really
realistic, like you’re seeing actual animals running about on English lands.
The only times it does get distracting is when they’re talking amongst themselves,
and the realism loses its edge. Was also surprised to see flashback segments
that were done with traditional and watercolor animation; being someone who
misses 2-D animation on the big screen, this did manage to bring a smile to my
face, but I have to ask why? If you’re capable of going out of your way to make
one sequence of a movie animated traditionally, why not do that with the rest
of it? That’s just teasing you could have made a more appealing movie, even
without the terrible marketing.
With
a British story such as Peter Rabbit,
the cast mostly consists of UK actors, fittingly so. One of the actors who they
hardly show in the marketing is Sam Neill, who plays Old Man McGregor in the
beginning of the movie, and it does the classic Peter Rabbit story of him stealing the famer’s vegetables. Neill
chews the scenery so much, constantly mugging at the camera in such a cheesy
but delightful manner, that it’s hard not to laugh. While he isn’t on screen
for long, he does leave a good impression on you. Rose Byrne plays Bea, Peter’s
human ally, and common love interest of the story. She’s the character you
think she is: an animal lover who paints and doesn’t like brutes, and it’s very
paint-by-numbers. To her credit, she isn’t bad with the role, but there’s
nothing really special about it.
Out
of all the human cast, Domhnall Gleason as Thomas McGregor, the nephew of the
farmer, is downright hilarious. I thought I really wasn’t going to like this
character, but when you see this guy on screen, you believe that he and Sam
Neill would come from the same family. Playing the business man who has to
struggle with nature is one thing, but Gleason takes this character to levels
that would make you ask if his dad was Nicholas Cage. He is capable of dialing
it down, especially when he’s trying to be reasonable with Rose Byrne and
others, but when that crazy kicks in, it’s amazing.
As
for the voice cast, it not only features big name talents (because Hollywood
hates voice actors unless it’s television), but they also play other famous
Beatrix Potter characters, outside of Peter
Rabbit. Heck, even the human cast members that I listed play some of the
animals. For the bunny sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottentail, they’re played
by Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, and Daisy Ridley, who are portrayed as the
typical triplets who are quirky; but the way these actresses deliver their
lines, you end up laughing your head off, even in bits that go too far. As for
our titular character, James Corden does well voicing the little animal. He
brings this delightful charm and welcoming presence to him, that you can’t help
but want to stick with him, even when he’s plotting something bad…however, that
doesn’t take away from the fact that Peter and some of the other animals, are
kind of psychotic.
Speaking of which, let’s
talk about the controversy here, and that’s the questionable murder tendencies
in this movie. I’m not making that up, this movie gets away with death and
attempted murder in a PG movie about bunnies messing with a farmer’s nephew
trying to restart his life. In the beginning of this movie, Farmer McGregor
dies of a heart attack that was caused by an unhealthy diet, but when you look
at the way he and these animals interact, I’m almost led to believe that he
died because these animals stressed him out so damn much. And after he dies,
Peter’s reaction is essentially, “He’s dead…PARTY!” A cartoon character is
celebrating the death of an old man he’s been tormenting! Yeah, sure, he ate
your dad in a pie, but after seeing what you were doing to him earlier, I
personally don’t blame the guy. But wait, there’s more! During their fiasco
with Thomas, they nearly kill the guy twice; and I’m not talking about, “oh
they think he’s dead because he tripped or something,” they send him flying off
a two-story house roof into a vegetable patch, and say that “the ice cream
truck (ambulance) will come get him soon.” But WAIT, there’s MORE! When Thomas
is trying to talk with Bea, the animals pelt him with food to ruin his
conversation, and they ADMITTINGLY try to kill him, by forcing him to eat
blueberries that he’s allergic to…you know, for kids!
So
yeah, aside from the…GLARING tendencies that this movie carries, what are my
overall thoughts? Well, I would say it does warrent a viewing, especially to help get you in the Easter spirit. The animation on the animals is good, the acting is decent, and it
does have some good laugh out loud moments. And for a modern day film
adaptation of Peter Rabbit,
especially from Sony after The Emoji
Movie, this one’s not that bad. But again, do be cautious if you show this to kids.
Rating: 7/10
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