★★★☆☆
BEATRIX Potter’s timeless world is brought to life in this good-natured adventure that really understands the joy of good old-fashioned slapstick.
Peter Rabbit (voiced by James Corden) is the rebellious leader of a band of wildlife living in the idyllic British countryside who wants nothing more than to get into Old Mr McGregor’s vegetable garden. After several fruitless attempts to keep Peter and his chums out, Mr McGregor (Sam Neill) keels over with a heart attack, leaving what Peter thinks is open season on the farm.
However, much to Peter’s dismay, the farm has been left to Mr McGregor’s great-nephew Thomas (Domhnall Gleeson), a city-dwelling Harrods employee with a hatred of all things wildlife – rabbits in particular – who turns up in order to make sure the house is in good shape for selling.
But upon his arrival Thomas finds more than he bargained for when he has to contend with the various tricks and tactics of Peter, his three sisters Flopsy (Margot Robbie), Mopsy (Elizabeth Debicki) and Cotton Tail (Daisy Ridley) and the rest of his mischievous friends who are hell-bent on relieving the farm of all food.
While the film uses the charming framework of the classic story – including a few lovely sequences achieved with traditional hand-drawn animation to bring Potter’s pages to life – director Will Gluck (Easy A, the Annie remake) is more interested in taking the film in its own direction with a particular emphasis on slapstick.
And he’s mostly successful in that endeavour with a series of surprisingly well-executed set-pieces awash with old-fashioned buffoonish physicality aimed squarely at a younger audience; in Three Stooges-esque style, there’s no shortage of adults falling down or being electrocuted without real consequence.
There’s also a self-awareness to the gags that will help keep adults in the audience entertained, too, not least a scene in which the creatures decide to throw blackberries at Thomas knowing that he is allergic to them. When one of Peter’s sisters questions the carelessness and lack of morality of the action, he tries to excuse what he’s doing, literally looks at the camera with a wink and says: “I don’t want to get any letters.”
There’s no doubting the CGI used to bring the various creatures to life – from the rabbits to hedgehog Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (voiced by popstar Sia) and badger Tommy Brock (also voiced by Neill) – is flawlessly executed to make them feel like a believable part of the otherwise live-action world.
This goes a fair way to make up for the fact that Corden is a distracting choice to voice the eponymous character. He makes the character sound much too mature and less relatable as a hero for the target audience – a younger actor might have played him with endearing sincerity rather than precocious cockiness. At least he looks the look and walks the walk, even if the talking remains a niggling issue throughout.
Gleeson is enjoyable as the newly appointed farmland owner, getting to show off a sillier side than we’ve seen from him before, while Rose Byrne brings warmth to the role of animal-loving neighbour Bea who slowly but surely chips away at Thomas’s icy heart. It’s nice to see a CGI/live-action hybrid that puts as much effort into the humans as the creatures.
It’s far from the masterfully delightful and endlessly heart-warming heights of the Paddington films – it’s much too ramshackle and ultimately simplistic for that. Nevertheless this colourful and characterful big-screen Potter adaptation provides enough good family fun with a welcome dollop of modern self-awareness.
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