Peter Rabbit (2018)

Peter Rabbit and his 3 sisters, and his friend are all enjoying their days in the forest. They spend a chunk of their time figuring out how to break into Mr McGregor’s vegetable garden for food. This was something that once belonged to them, when previous owners kept the fence down. 

Something happens to Mr McGregor, and one of his relatives move into their new property. Thomas McGregor is Mr McGregor’s Great Nephew, who hates rabbits just the same. He is ready to win over Bea, however, who is the opposite of him. A local, country girl, who lives to make the wildlife feel welcome.

I’m ready for this review to be short, because there is only so much to say about a film with mostly animated characters.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way… Domnhall Gleeson is an absolute dish. What an attractive man… oh, and I enjoy watching him act. The pairing of him and Rose Byrne was great. In a kids film you need a villain and a hero, right? These two played in perfectly, and there was still opportunity for there to be a message chucked in there. It was made obvious that Thomas was the bad character, and sometimes you meet someone nice that can change that. 

In terms of those casted to voice other characters, none of them offended me… except for James Corden. Don’t get me wrong, I now don’t think it was a bad match, but there were some moments when I just in the cinema thinking ‘Smithy, Smithy, Smithy… When is he going to say Gavaaaalaaaaaaaar?’. If this film wasn’t absolutely stuffed with comedy, it might not have been so bad, but the way the script was written really highlighted the humour that is portrayed perfectly by James Corden.

On the same note, this was belly laugh funny. Like, the kind that makes you turn around to the mental woman sat alone at the back, crying at everything (me). The comedy was so clever in some parts, and this is the definition of suitable for the whole family. An adult can sit in the cinema with their child, and not just have to tolerate it. There is a lot of subtle humour that would go straight over a child’s head, but is also filled with enough silliness, that it suits the audience it is aimed at.

Do we need to talk about CGI rabbits, and real humans working perfectly together, and being visually satisfying? It’s 2018, I feel like this should be expected, but it looked brilliantly edited, regardless. There was definite attention to detail paid at this point.

I was excited about this because I bloody love Peter Rabbit, just the same as I love Winnie the Pooh, it was a character that let me escape, and use my imagination as a child. I was scared that giving these characters recognisable voices was going to ruin it for me, and others that feel the same about Peter Rabbit, but it didn’t.

The script was well written, and well executed, the editing was pretty much spot on, and I had a blast. I laughed, my heart felt warm and fuzzy, and even when it got tense, I felt myself genuinely being bothered by what was happening.

Another must watch ‘kids’ film for 2018.

6.5/10

CINEMATES – S