Peter Rabbit

So I originally had the plan to go see Black Panther again tonight. However, plans changed and I decided to check out Peter Rabbit.

Now I went into this movie not really knowing much about it. I assumed it was a kids film but the kind that really target the kid audience, not like the Pixar movies where it's a film for everyone (I was partly right on that) and I figured it was probably gonna get an "AWWW!" out of me, because... well yeah... I mean look at these guys.

I mean... c'mon! They're adorable.

The only other thing I had heard about this film was a slight controversy about how some parents got angry because they thought there were scenes about allergy bullying. I can tell you now, those parents are overreacting and the part with the allergies in question is no more funny or mean spirited (and this movie is not mean spirited) as the rest of the movie so it's a wash.

Peter Rabbit follows the story of the title character (voiced by James Corden). He, his sisters, Flopsy (voiced by Margot Robbie), Mopsy (voiced by Elizabeth Debicki), and Cottontail (voiced by Daisey Ridley), and their cousin Benjamin (voiced by Colin Moody) are always trying to steal the produce out of Mr. McGregors garden (played by Sam Neil). The movie serves as a pseudo sequel to the storybook, The Tale of Peter Rabbit where it tells the similar tale that Peter's father was caught and baked into a pie by Mr Mcgregor.

But when Mr. Mcgregor unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, Peter, his family, and all the animals of the surrounding country side have a celebration. That is until Mcgregor's estranged great nephew, Thomas Mcgregor (played by Domhnall Gleason) arrives to clean up the house and sell it so he can buy his own toy shop and rub it in the faces of his old employers who stiffed him on a promotion.

The movie becomes your typical cat and mouse chase movie where McGregor comes up with a scheme to catch Peter, Peter comes up with a scheme to embarass or straight up hurt McGregor, slapstick and hilarity ensues.

The "twist" in this film is that McGregor isn't all that horrible of a guy and while in the country he starts to enjoy his time there and becomes infatuated with the nice neighbor, Bea (played by Rose Byrne) who always looked after the rabbits and got them out of trouble with the old Mr. McGregor. So on top of the cat and mouse game between Peter and Mcgregor, they are both vying for her affection and the movie adds some of the typical romantic comedy tropes into the mix.

Overall, I think the voice acting in this movie is pretty fun and along with the animation that I really enjoyed, I can say that James Corden, Daisy Ridley, and a lot of the other (almost totally British) members of the cast did a pretty good job with this film.

So what's the issue?

I haven't seen The Chipmunk movies...

They look awful...

But I assume when you hear the plot of this movie, you can't help but feel like Peter Rabbit is something like that movie, or the Smurf movie. It feels like one of those kids movies where a somewhat famous actor has to deal with the hijinks of a bunch of CGI animal characters and it's supposed to be funny and I guess a little bit cute with some fart jokes, and just a lot of movement to keep the kids occupied.

And yes, there are parts of this movie that feel a little bit of how I imagine the Chipmunks or The Smurfs would be.

The story is pretty simplistic, there is a lot of immature humor, there are a lot of pop culture references that oddly enough kids will not know, and the entire movie is populated by the popular songs of the day for no real apparent reason than to get kids up and dancing to the kid friendly versions of the songs they may or may not be able to hear on the radio.

However, there are a couple of elements of this film that made it feel just a little bit different. First off, the animation is actually really spectacular. Sure none of it felt like there were actually rabbits there, but the way they moved and the tendencies of them even though they talked was actually pretty well done and definitely wasn't pushed off as a lower priority.

The other aspect of this film that felt a little bit different was how clever it was.

For as many slapstick jokes and buttcrack jokes there were, there was a lot of really smart jokes and a lot of references that might go over kids heads. And as much as this was a movie for kids, it gave off a little bit of that feeling that this was a movie that everyone would enjoy, not just kids.

Another aspect of the film was the pace. It actually had a more thought out and methodical pace that I wouldn't expect for most kids movies. In fact the kids behind us got a little bored of the film about two thirds the way through and got really antsy while my parents and I were enjoying almost every minute of the movie. So it's a little bit of a mixed bag. It's not totally a movie for kids and it's not totally a movie for adults. Enjoyable but a little bit uneven.

I will say, no matter if it's Ted or Peter Rabbit, there is something absolutely hilarious about a grown man full out fighting a CGI furry creature of whatever sort. There is a scene with Peter and Thomas that I was laughing really hard at and it was just these two beating the crap out of one another.

And speaking of Domhnall Gleason, he and Rose Byrne actually give a halfway decent performance in a movie they could have easily phoned in. I like both these actors and their relationship on screen on top of the just down right cuteness of the rabbits just made me take notice of the amount of heart this movie had. I do think at least some care and effort was put into this movie and regardless of the cheaper moments, I really came out of it having enjoyed myself.

Is Peter Rabbit going to be the best animated movie of the year? Not by a long shot. I can't totally say I will remember that I saw it to be honest in a couple of months. But if it ever is on TV again or on Netflix, I might have a watch and enjoy some of the comedy and clever lines. In my opinion, (and I feel like I'm going to offend some people who own rabbits) but it's very much like owning a rabbit. It's so cute and it makes your heart warm at times so it's great if you get to hold one and pet one from time to time, if you have a kid who is not too young that you feel could enjoy the experience I would recommend you bring them along as they might enjoy it too, but I wouldn't want to own it, just because there are some definite downfalls. (I've never really owned a rabbit so I have no idea, I'm just assuming)

But have you seen Peter Rabbit? What did you think? I personally think this movie is a little bit of a higher brow Chipmunks movie? Do you agree? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I personally like James Corden but I understand why some people wouldn't. Well of course he did a bit about it on his late night show. Enjoy!