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

I, Tonya (2018)

As a young girl, Tonya Harding is pushed by her Mother to do better. She goes through life being told she isn’t a good skater, she hasn’t got any style, she isn’t typically attractive, and battles with the feeling that she isn’t good enough. This doesn’t make her any less determined to succeed though.

I, Tonya tells the story of Tonya Harding’s controversial career, and focusses on her traumatic past. The film pays attention to her relationship with her ex-husband Jeff, and the attack that was carried out on her main competition – Nancy Kerrigan. I, Tonya focusses on her point of view, and how all these events ended up being the thing that determined how she would be remember, and how her career would pan out.

The tone of this film is established right from the beginning. We get to understand immediately that this is going to be something that tries to make no specific truth claims, and incorporates the different stories of 3 key characters. For me, this was perfect. I don’t think it could have been done in a better way.

My biggest issue with biographical productions, is the fact that they are always going to be far from the truth at some point, but this is never acknowledged. I, Tonya makes this account of Tonya’s life comical. Any claims to events were knocked down straight away by sarcastic, on the nose comments along the lines of, ‘that’s how I remember that happening’, and ‘what that person is saying is probably not true’. The mockumentary style that this film takes on suits in perfectly, and really helps ensure this film holds its own style, and has decent pacing.

Aside from the screen writing being spot on for the direction this film is going in, the reason for this film’s success is without a doubt the cast. Margot Robbie portrayal of this character is brilliant. Even though Tonya is portrayed negatively in some scenes, the dark comedy manages to lighten the mood, and doesn’t make her seem like such a monster. It was inspiring to see Robbie playing a role that seemed different from other roles she has previously taken, and do it well. 

                           

Alison Janney presents Harding’s mother as a witch, but a good witch, I guess. Yes, we see that she is nothing but harsh towards Tonya, and I imagine at some points she was. But again, the dark humour just gives the character a different edge. If LaVona really did throw a knife at her teenage daughter’s arm, you can at least try and empathise. Of course, this account isn’t displayed as one given by a Mother who would drown her daughter in obvious love and affection, but what parent hasn’t acted in an unreasonable (maybe not AS extreme) way to show they care!?

The score for this film was thoughtfully selected based on the music of Tonya Harding’s choice for competitions. Similarly, this really suited the mood throughout the film. Really, although an amusing film, there were some difficult real issues in this. It was a film about an angry, disregarded teenager, who spent a chunk of her life getting beaten and songs such as ‘The Passenger’, and ‘Free your Mind’ were incredibly suitable. It is hard for figure skating to look bad, and of course, the editing had to play a part here, in making sure everything was as perfect as it could be, and team on this film did a pretty stellar job.

Of course, this film is not perfect, but it was entertaining. It had such potential to be a lot worse than it was – ‘cringe-worthy’ even, but it was far from it.
I would happily watch this again, and believe it is deserving of the academy award nominations it has received.

7/10

CINEMATES - S

Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)

Goodbye Christopher Robin is the story of English writer A.A. Milne and his life post WW1, and how he stumbled upon the idea of his later success which was of course – Winnie the Pooh. There isn’t anything else to this story…

THAT ISN’T A FAULT THOUGH!

The film begins and we jump straight in to Milne’s life right after he comes back from the war and meet his wife, and begin to gain insight into the private life of him and his wife, and how his time away affected them both, and off we go on their journey. They move out of London, as the hustle and bustle is badly affecting Milne mentally, and productively, meaning he is unable to write. His wife falls pregnant and we then meet the inspiration behind his most famous work – their son, Christopher Robin.

The issue I have with films of this nature as always, is how true are some of these events, and how much are they exaggerated for dramatic effect? We won’t know, no one experienced this other than the characters that are being portrayed. So, I suppose the most important thing for this film is, how good were the cast? Could I connect with these characters? OH, GOD YES. 

I cannot fault the cast, I really believed there was a difficult father/son relationship there between Milne and his son, and I really felt for them both in many scenes. I could relate to the idea that a childhood had been stolen, and a Father didn’t understand or appreciate this at the time, and that a child couldn’t explain this when it was happening to them. Domhnall Gleeson was the absolute star of the show, without a doubt. His performance was incredible. I believed his struggle with quite obvious PTSD, I believed he struggled to look after a child, when he was suddenly asked to do this, I believed that the success he had brought him both joy, and sadness. It was a convincing performance and it did the ‘character’ justice, in simple terms. The performance of Margot Robbie in this, though also convincing and enjoyable, somewhat average. 

It was a truly enchanting story, it made me laugh, cry and generally entertained me. It made me realise why I enjoyed Winnie the Pooh so much as a child, yet also made me remember why I didn’t so much as I got older. It was heart-warming, and beautifully made. I just hope that it was somewhat a true representation of these non-fictional characters.

Daphne (Robbie) appeared to be was sickening, she infuriated me, which is good, if that is what you are trying to be, right? But something about it I didn’t enjoy. I feel like the intention was for her to be more powerful and more controlling, and I feel like Olive, Christopher Robin’s Nanny was more powerful. It’s like she was almost there… and then though nah that’ll do I’ll calm down. She was portrayed as a very selfish character, but there was nothing to explain this. Nothing that Milne did seemed to spur these actions on, so in a way it’s like her character should have made much more sense. Now, Will Tilston. Let’s talk about little Will. What a gem, I love it when a child is better at acting than an adult, and all I can really say is not only was he cute as a button, but he made me cry, and this kid is going to go far. There’s not much to say other than he was perfectly casted, I was really impressed by him.

The score in this film was as to be expected, it fitted beautifully, and if memory serves me correctly we obviously had original music made for Winnie the Pooh. The location helped a great deal with making this film look good, but I honestly don’t think that this would have made a difference to the story. I mean it made sense, it was nice to look at but there is nothing much more to say about that.

7/10 

CINEMATES - S