Peter Rabbit Review

PG: for some rude humor and action

Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Animal Logic

1 Hr and 34 Minutes

Dir: Will Gluck | Writers: Will Gluck, Rob Lieber

Cast:  Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, Sam Neill, with the voices of James Corden, Daisy Ridley, Elizabeth Debicki, and Margot Robbie

INTRO: So I’ve been on a hate streak with Sony Pictures Animation since last year. Three fully computer-animated releases in 2017 and they all managed to suck. Now it's 2018, and their first release is "Peter Rabbit," a film where the trailers made you cringe knowing that Beatrice Potter is rolling in her grave because of how they bastardized Peter. After watching this, I’m mad again but not for the reason you would think. I am pissed because for some estranged reason the past two CG-live action hybrid Sony Pictures Animation films managed to be significantly better than the previous four Sony Pictures Animated CG-animated features. 

Peter's feud with Mr. McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) escalates to greater heights than ever before as they rival for the affections of the warm-hearted animal lover who lives next door (Rose Byrne). 

I don’t know why everyone was so heated about Peter Rabbit when the trailers came out. Yeah, it looked terrible but when I was growing up, I always perceived him to be kind of an asshole. There was a 22 animated short of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” I once watched and from what I could remember was that characteristically speaking Peter is a hard-headed troublemaker. One of the beneficial aspects of adapting this character is taking that flawed aspect of him and have that be the core personality he has. He has the same personality as Alvin where he is self-centered and selfish, but the movie establishes an apparent reason why he’s this way, and you buy it.

That said, there are numerous moments where Beatrice Potter should be rolling her grave due to her Peter and his sisters being so disturbingly maniacal. For example one of the earlier jokes that occurs within the first several minutes is Peter attempting to shove a carrot up Mr. McGregor’s ass. BUT RIGHT WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO TAKE POINTS AWAY,  the film immediately honors Potter’s art by in the most efficient way by using her styled artwork to illustrate Peter and his family’s past and its revisited to whenever it is needed for emotional residence.

With plenty, CG-hybrid live-action films failing those were mainly due to the poor direction by names who always seem to reappear because they continuously attempt to ruin your childhood. You have Tim Hill who has done “Garfield 2,” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks.” Then you have Raja Gosnell who has done, both “Scooby-Doo” movies and also both “Smurfs” movies. Now we have Will Gluck who has a decent track record with his films (except for “Fired Up” and “Annie”), and Gluck knows how to write movies. What I love about films directed by Will Gluck is that he knows how to write scenes involving humor cleverly. With this being his second family film after “Annie,” he tries to focus on the comedy as much as possible.

What “Peter Rabbit” benefits from the most is the humor and the character. Some might say how Gluck semi bastardizes Potter’s work on a Dr. Suess type scale similar to Ron Howards “The Grinch,” but because of the constant cleverness of this story, it's easy to look past it. It is similar how Rob Letterman’s “Goosebumps” was where it was a movie that we know as an established property but managed to be its own thing. No better yet, It is similar to how “21 Jump Street” where it was self-reflective about the material being a bit absurd where the characters personality were heightened but managed to be fleshed out dimensional characters.

The voice cast in this was oddly amazing. Besides Cordon as the titular character, the film features Margot Robbie, Daisy Ridley, and Elizabeth Debicki as his sisters and it's so bizarre how it managed to cast them. Because of their casting, some of the humor is hysterical due to their unique personalities such as Daisy Ridley’s Cottontail for having such violent tendencies and Margot Robbie's Flopsy having a lisp.

With CG hybrid films, the worst element that never seems to work are the performances by the real actors interacting with the CG creatures. Last time it worked effectively was “Paddington 2,” which was pretty recent but usually, it doesn’t work. Its insufferable all the time Jason Lee is forced to look at an egg and believe its Alvin, but with this movie, the real actors are great. Domhall Gleeson may be playing the asshole as usual, but at the same time, his interaction with the CG creatures are just seamless. Because of the brilliant VFX animation and for him being a terrific actor, his performance throughly works.

This is not an excuse to give this film a pass but “Peter Rabbit” might be the closest thing I’ll get to a decent live action “Looney Tunes” movie. The feature relies on comical violence as the centerpiece of the humor and a lot of it are inspired by “Looney Tunes” humor where Peter is Bugs Bunny and Thomas McGregor is Elmer Fudd but with a garden. It also borrows humor from R rated productions such as “Ted” and “Neighbors” but utilize them in a way where it's effectively refreshing. Yeah, some gags don’t work all the time for some are ran into the ground, but for most part the jokes are consistent .

LAST STATEMENT

“Peter Rabbit”  is one of those rare movies like “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” where on the surface it looks stupid as hell but deep down its charming, funny, and heartwarming from beginning to end. No it's not perfect but its far much better than anyone would expect and because of that it makes for a solid recommendation from me.

Rating: 3.5/5 | 72%

uper Scene: Electric house.