peter rabbit movie review christian

Peter Rabbit

Reviewed by: Shawna Ellis CONTRIBUTOR

Getting along with neighbors

How our selfish actions can impact others

How to seek forgiveness from those we have wronged

How can I know what is RIGHT and WRONG? Answer

How can I discern whether a particular activity is WRONG? Answer

Animals in the Bible

Edgy and irreverent

Sequel: “ Peter Rabbit ” (2021)

W henever I hear a film described as “irreverent” I cringe a little inside. The film “Peter Rabbit” has been described in such a way. To be “irreverent” means that the usual respect or honor is not shown. In “Peter Rabbit,” we have a movie which describes itself as edgy and irreverent, but which is blatantly marketed toward young children. This should give parents some pause.

Although I am not familiar with all of the Beatrix Potter tales, from those I do remember there is a simple story in which the animal characters make poor choices which result in an almost immediate consequence or a narrow escape which teaches a lesson. In the classic stories, Squirrel Nutkin has most of his tail bitten off when he has taunted the owl one too many times. Jemimah Puddleduck loses all of her eggs and is almost eaten herself when she trusts the fox. Peter Rabbit narrowly escapes death at the hands of Mr. McGregor, and his mother doses him with chamomile tea while his sisters get a treat.

The film “Peter Rabbit” does not have the simple and straightforward morality of these old tales. Peter’s mother and father are dead, and as the new leader of his family, Peter repeatedly puts his cousin and younger sisters in harm’s way as he ignores the teaching of his parents and takes needless risks in Mr. McGregor’s garden. Yet, he is called “the hero of our tale” by the narrator, which may give impressionable children the wrong idea of what a hero should be. Peter is certainly not a hero… he steals, bosses his family, taunts, plays cruel pranks, is callous toward the death of humans he doesn’t like, and lives a very arrogant and self-centered life.

This film is marketed toward young children with toys and its cute animal characters, but children will receive a very mixed message . Parents will probably assume beforehand that Peter will be a rebellious and mischievous rabbit, but as the film progresses they may be shocked at the lengths he goes to in order to get his way. They may also wonder if he will ever face the consequences of his reckless and even cruel actions.

When the consequences do finally come, they are devastating, and they actually have more impact upon those Peter cares about than for himself. And just as the consequences are big, so is the regret and humility that Peter feels. Finally, we get the payoff and the moral of the tale. We see Peter move toward being a leader as he admits his wrongdoing and works to make things right to help those he loves. But I wonder, will the younger viewers see that Peter is finally reaping what he has sown? Or will they just remember the “hero” bunny’s dangerous and selfish antics which are played for laughs?

While Peter and the other rabbits are destructive and even occasionally ruthless, the human characters have their own problems. Thomas McGregor ( Domhnall Gleeson ) is sometimes volatile and at other times endearing, but even when he is charming he is also dishonest in his relationship with his neighbor. He sometimes presents a different character in order to please her, and systematically hides his ill intentions toward the rabbits because he knows she would disapprove. Bea ( Rose Byrne ) is kind in her way, but very skewed in her thinking that rabbits are pure and perfect creatures and that a human is never justified in trying to keep them out of a garden.

This movie can lead to much discussion about right and wrong , about how our selfish actions can impact others, and about how to seek forgiveness from those we have wronged. But I think parents will need to be purposeful in pointing out these lessons, because some children could come away without grasping the moral of the story and instead have just spent an hour and half with very bad role models.

What is SIN AND WICKEDNESS? Answer

What is GOODNESS? Answer

What is RIGHTEOUSNESS? Answer

Are we living in a MORAL STONE AGE? Answer

This film is visually stunning. From the sweeping views of gorgeous countryside to the tiny intricacies of Mr. McGregor’s garden, everything we see is rich with color and detail. The animal characters are beautifully animated and textured. While not exactly realistic, they are very believable and are rendered in such a way that they can express personality and emotion. One can see that a great deal of work went into making this a visually appealing movie.

The main human characters give excellent performances. Domhnall Gleeson is surprisingly comedic as the eccentric Thomas McGregor, and Rose Byrne is convincing as the friendly artistic neighbor who thinks that rabbits can do no wrong. The voice acting for the animal characters is humorous and fits the personalities of each very well, although I sometimes had some trouble distinguishing between the three rabbit sisters. I’m not familiar with James Corden , but I think he perfectly captures the rude and cocky attitude of this portrayal of Peter.

This movie is a far cry from the slow and gentle pacing of the classic Potter stories. The action is immediate and almost continuous. As it progresses, the situations become more and more unbelievable—to the point of utter ridiculousness. The music is also rollicking and fast-paced, with modern songs interspersed throughout. I was not able to catch all the lyrics, but the general tone of the music fit Peter’s arrogant and reckless personality. I have a feeling that some of these songs may not make for ideal repeated listening.

Although there is some light romance, this is primarily a comedy. Children in my viewing audience often erupted in laughter and exclamations of delight. Most of the humor for children comes in the form of comedic violence, in which this production abounds almost to gratuitous excess. More on this in the “content of concern” section below.

Adults can find humor in more nuanced jokes. Thankfully, very little of this comes from the usual sexual innuendo but instead is a result of clever writing. The movie is funny and entertaining, with enough character and heart to make it worth viewing… with some cautions for impressionable viewers. Parents should carefully discern if this movie would be a good fit for their impressionable children.

Content of Concern

This film is refreshingly devoid of profanity and blasphemies. I heard no foul language or the Lord’s name misused. If only more movies today could do the same! The British insult “twit” is used a few times, there is one use of “heck” and two of “butt,” as well as words like “imbecile” and “idiot.”

Potty humor is also kept at a minimum, especially for a film involving animals. There is one scene in which there is literal toilet humor, as a human character sets out to demonstrate the cleanliness of a toilet by drinking from it with a straw. Thankfully this is interrupted before he drinks.

Unmarried human characters share a single brief kiss. In a fit of anger, a man sits astride a large stuffed bear and punches it, then bends over to kiss it while apologizing, then punches it again. Something about this seemed awkward and unnecessary.

A man holds his hands protectively over his privates as rabbits pummel him with vegetables. When he removes his hands to go into a yoga relaxation pose Peter says, “You know where to aim!”, and he is hit multiple times in the groin (partly obscured). A man is briefly shown shirtless and another time in boxers, both played for comedic purposes. As a man bends over, his pants slip down and a couple inches of his crack are revealed. In a lengthy scene, a rabbit contemplates putting a carrot there.

Probably the worst joke in the film is made by a rooster who is always surprised by the rising of the sun. One morning he laments, “If I had known today was coming, I wouldn’t have fertilized all those eggs last night. Now I have to be involved and present!” Thankfully this will probably go right over most children’s heads. Later, we see the rooster with many chicks, and he admits that they are “the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

A party takes place in which animals act wild and crazy, as if in a fraternity house. Animals shave the fur off a fox’s chest while he is passed out. Later he runs away covering himself as though naked, but in another scene he purposefully “streaks” past. One rabbit admits that she had thought she was looking at someone’s jacket buttons, but that they were actually just his nipples. A character claims she can read lips but misinterprets, saying “all the elephants around here have flatulence” and “she has a thing for man-butts.”

The rabbit siblings’ parents are both dead. In flashback form, using beautiful Potter-style traditional animation, we see that the father was killed by Mr. McGregor (it is obscured) and was baked into a pie. We do not know what happened to the mother. Peter sometimes talks to his parents as if they can hear him. Although he often implies that he wants to make them proud, he continually disobeys his late father’s warnings about the garden.

The elder Mr. McGregor dies on-screen of a heart attack. This is shocking and somewhat disturbing, and many children in the audience were heard asking, “What happened?” The death is followed by a brief montage of grotesque close-up images showing his unhealthy eating habits and lifestyle. Peter is not upset by his death and actually takes credit for causing it. In one scene, rabbits shoot a known food allergen into someone’s mouth (to kill him, it is assumed), and he must use an Epi-pen to save himself. When the character is revived, the animals are surprised and claim that he “must be a sorcerer.”

There are two brief jokes about man being Evolved. Meditation is mentioned, and a couple practices yoga together. A man flies into a fit of rage and wreaks havoc in a store.

The constant violence is probably the largest drawback of this film . Yet, it is also what elicited the most laughter from adults and especially from the children in the audience. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the violence is that it has no real consequences… characters are not shown with lasting injuries, even though they should have broken bones, cuts, bruises ad bloody wounds. This is similar to what happens in cartoons, but because the human characters are real, I believe it is a more dangerous example.

Humans are caught in traps, electrocuted, thrown against walls, knocked down, punched, hit with vegetables by a slingshot, and more. One rabbit character repeatedly leaps from great heights and says she can do so because she has lots more ribs left to break. She is never injured, even after very hard falls. A hedgehog is shocked on an electric fence. A group of singing sparrows are hit in a repeated gag. Rabbits narrowly avoid being hit with hoes, caught in traps and blown up with explosives. A few children in the theater screamed and cried at the latter. I found it sadly interesting that children laughed at the bad things which happened to the humans, but were frightened by the thought of the cute rabbits being hurt .

Perhaps this is what has left me the most unsettled about “Peter Rabbit.” It is not that the film itself is so bad, but that the reaction of the audience reveals a skewed way of thinking in which humans are the enemy. People getting hurt is comedic material, but rabbits being in danger is cause for alarm. This sort of thinking shows a low view of humans which are created in the likeness of God ( Genesis 1:26-27 ). We are image bearers, and have been given dominion over the Earth. That does not give us license to harass or needlessly harm animals, as some might think, but neither is the opposite true… we are not to think of animals as being of more value than humans. Jesus made that quite clear when He said in Matthew 10:31 , “… you are of more value than many sparrows .” We can know that we are of more value to God than rabbits, for that matter. God did not send Jesus to give His life for animals, but for humans. It is only to humans that God has given the right to become the children of God ( John 1:12 ). Animals are a wonderful part of God’s creation, but are not of the same value as humans.

Yet in the theater, children shrieked with laughter when Peter and his friends hurt Thomas McGregor, but cried out in fear when the tables were turned. Why is this? If you choose to see this film with your children, be prepared to discuss this.

“Peter Rabbit” is an entertaining movie with some concerns and some redeeming qualities. You will have to decide if the heavy comedic violence and recklessness of the first three quarters of the film are balanced out by the last fourth of the film in which forgiveness is sought and a lesson is learned.

• Violence: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Minor
• Nudity: Minor
• Profane language: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

• Young people
• Non-viewer comments

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

PETER RABBIT (2018)

"hare versus heir".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Rabbits steal farmer’s food and move into his house with other animals when farmer dies, but they are kicked out by the new owner.

More Detail:

PETER RABBIT is not your grandparents’ Peter Rabbit. It’s a modernized, live action comedy that updates the beloved TALES OF PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter with lots of slapstick comedy.

The movie opens with four flying birds signing about following your dreams, like something out of SNOW WHITE. They get knocked to the ground, and a female narrator says, “This is not that kind of story.”

Cut to Peter Rabbit, his three sisters and their cousin, Benjamin Bunny. Peter Rabbit tells the others he’s going to sneak into Farmer McGregor’s garden to steal some food, even though McGregor is nearby mowing his lawn. Benjamin warns Peter not to go, but Peter goes anyway, and Benjamin follows because that is his character flaw, as Peter tells everyone.

Farmer McGregor, however, hears Peter and tries to go after him with a rake. Peter escapes, but he goes back again, and this time McGregor catches him. Peter struggles, but McGregor takes him by the ears and starts toward his house to make a rabbit pie. Just then, Farmer McGregor suffers a heart attack and dies. With no one to stop them, the rabbits and all the local wildlife invade McGregor’s house and have a party eating the farmer’s food.

Switch to London. Farmer McGregor’s nephew, Thomas, who works in Harrods toy department, learns he’s inherited his uncle’s farm, but he hates the country. Thomas also learns he’s been passed over for a job promotion because the boss can give the job to his own nephew. Thomas goes berserk in the store and gets fired, but he decides he will go the country, sell his uncle’s farm and open his own toy store right next to Harrods.

When Thomas shows up at the farm, Peter thinks Thomas will be nicer than his uncle. However, Thomas turns out to be just as fastidious and mean as his uncle.

However, Thomas is immediately smitten with his next-door neighbor, a pretty young woman named Bea who loves and cares for Peter and his sisters, who’ve lost their parents. Peter decides Thomas has got to go.

The PETER RABBIT movie has a wonderful, wry sense of humor that’s laugh-out-loud infectious. The slapstick comedy works well without becoming overbearing. PETER RABBIT also has a strong story structure that hits all the plot points it should and that leads to nice climax. Finally, there are some heartwarming emotional moments that provide uplifting messages where love, repentance and forgiveness are extolled. The title character, Peter Rabbit, eventually learns to do the right thing instead of always causing trouble.

MOVIEGUIDE® advises a light caution for younger children due to the slapstick comedy and for very brief language. There’s also a brief comical reference mocking evolution and some chaste Romantic elements, and the movie has a couple jokes mocking political correctness. The good news is that PETER RABBIT emphasizes blessings and has a redemptive ending that will leave families with lots of positive feelings as they exit the theater.

Burlington, Vermont

• Parish/Mass Time

Movie review: ‘Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway’

The beloved characters created by Beatrix Potter in her series of children’s books stray even further from their amiable roots in “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” (Columbia).

A blend of live action and computer-generated animation, this follow-up to the 2018 film features a similar array of anthropomorphic animals. Will Gluck, who returns as director and co-writer — this time with Patrick Burleigh — retains the manic pace and snarky humor of the kickoff, thus maintaining a tone entirely alien to that of Potter’s gentle fables.

The result will, once again, offend purists. But those unfamiliar with the Potter canon will likely enjoy a fast-paced, slapstick-filled adventure with positive messages about family, morality and good behavior.

The sequel opens on a high note, as domestic bliss has settled on the McGregor manor in England’s Lake District. Toy-shop owner Thomas (Domhnall Gleeson) has married writer Bea (Rose Byrne) and has reached a truce with her farmyard brood.

Even Peter (voice of James Corden), who formerly regarded Thomas as the enemy, has mended his mischievous ways and is now the defender of the vegetable patch that includes Thomas’ prized tomatoes.

Naturally, this tranquil state of affairs isn’t destined to last long. Things begin to unravel when Bea’s book about Peter and his younger sisters, Flopsy (voice of Margot Robbie), Mopsy (voice of Elizabeth Debicki) and Cottontail (voice of Aimee Horne), attracts the interest of wily publisher Nigel Basil-Jones (David Oyelowo).

Smooth talking Nigel promises fame and fortune — so long as Bea agrees to a few changes. One of these is to showcase Peter as the “bad seed” and overall villain of the proposed series of stories.

Upset and confused, wondering if his true nature is indeed wicked, Peter runs off to the big city. There, he falls in with a gang of thieves.

Their leader is a grizzled bunny named Barnabas (voice of Lennie James), a newcomer to the Potter universe. The other members are two frisky felines, Tom Kitten (voice of Damon Herriman) and his sibling Mittens (voice of Hayley Atwell), and a dirty rat, Samuel Whiskers (voice of Rupert Degas).

The robbers break into homes and steal food. Barnabas tells Peter it’s not criminal since they are simply providing sustenance for their family and friends. Peter is all in, declaring: “I’m no goody two-shoes! I’m a baddy-bad bunny!”

To pull off their biggest heist, a raid on the farmers’ market, Barnabas needs backup, and convinces Peter to enlist allies. Despite their misgivings, Peter’s cousin, Benjamin Bunny (voice of Colin Moody), Pigling Bland (voice of Ewen Leslie) and that prickly porcupine, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice of Sia), among many others, put their (misguided) trust in Peter.

Needless to say, a reckoning is in store, and life lessons are to be learned. Of these, at least, Potter herself would firmly approve.

The film contains some rude humor and mild action sequences. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

— Joseph McAleer

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WHY I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE FOR CHILDREN

This is not the adorable Peter Rabbit that you have come to know and love. In this Peter Rabbit Christian Movie Review, I will give you the info you need to make informed viewing decisions as a parent.

THE SYNOPSIS:

Disclaimer: My family and I have not received any compensation for my review, and we pay for our own tickets. I am a mom of 5 children who has done movie reviews for movies for over 10 years.

Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit is a child’s story with a dose of reality mixed in. Peter and his family live in a burrow under a tree. Peter’s father was killed by Mr. McGregor, and Peter’s mother worries about how reckless Peter is. Mr. McGregor is out to get any rabbit that comes into his garden. It is the age old story of rabbits and gardeners. They eat our food, and we try to stop them.

My Peter Rabbit Christian Movie Review: Critcism of Peter Rabbit

Sony’s Peter Rabbit movie had the potential to be a delightful children’s movie. It follows the above storyline. However, when Mr. McGregor has a heart attack, and his great nephew moves in, Beatrix Potter’s delightful story is forgotten. The movie then becomes Elmer Fudd on steroids.

When the younger McGregor moves in, he quickly takes an interest in his peaceful, charming neighbor, Bea. Bea is a terrible artist. Her only redeeming works are her delightful paintings of the rabbits in the burrow. And she loves those rabbits and looks after them. Peter and young McGregor are mortal enemies, but both care for Bea. Neither McGregor nor Peter want to risk the relationship with Bea, so they pretend to get along in her presence while plotting the destruction of each other.

Everytime Bea is on the screen, it is as if they captured the spirit of Beatrix Potter. Beauty and calm surround Bea, and the world is harmonious. The scenery of the countryside is gorgeous, and Bea’s cottage is delightful. This is a modern day princess who loves and cares for all.

The acting and animation are great. The character development is spot-on. The premise is charming. And it ends there!

The screaming. If you follow my reviews, I talk about how much screaming there is in most non-Disney children’s movies. My youngest son, Jack-Jack is autistic and acts out movies. You realize just how much screaming goes on in many movies when your child is acting the movie out over and over and over again.

This movie is no exception. Apparently screaming is such a great time filler without having to come up with good dialogue. There is plenty of screams in this film.

There is one swear word (d-mn) that is totally unnecessary. Additionally, th ere are other words like idiot that are sprinkled throughout the movie.

The slapstick violence is non-stop. This is not a gardener trying to rid their garden of a rabbit. The gardener will stop at no lengths to kill the rabbit, and the rabbit is eager to kill the gardener.

On screen, the elder Mr. McGregor has a heart attack and dies.

The party the animals have looks like a scene out of Animal House.

THE “WHAT THE H-LL WERE THEY THINKING?”:

If you know me, you know I don’t swear, but there is no other way to say this. The producers, directors, and artists, could not have put this movie together collectively without anyone thinking that a number of things were way out of line.

Beloved Peter Rabbit goes from mischievous rabbit to all out sadist. Not only does he want to get rid of the younger McGregor, but he is intent on killing him in any way possible.

ALLERGY: McGregor is allergic to blackberries, and in one scene, Peter has his siblings shoot a blackberry into McGregor’s mouth. He immediately has a reaction, drops to the ground, and at the last minute he pulls out an epi-pen and plunges it into his leg.

After the reports across the country of children touching other children with allergies, or trying to get other children who suffer from life-threatening allergie s to eat food items, this scene is too much.

THE CARROT SCENE: Mr. McGregor is in his garden kneeling down. Peter comes up behind him. Mr. McGregor’s butt crack is showing (think plumber). Peter picks up a carrot and as his siblings are encouraging him to leave the garden, he is contemplating shoving the carrot. This scene made me so uncomfortable. It is a horrible scene in a child’s movie. This scene shows the depravity of many in the movie industry. They are so out of touch with reality that anything that hints of sexual humor in a children’s movie is okay for them.

Peter Rabbit Christian Movie Review: MY RECOMMENDATION:

There is no way I could recommend this movie to any parent. While it had the potential to be entertaining, it is not worthy of spending your money on, or even seeing it wI ronically, hen it comes out on DVD.

Ironically, Peter Rabbit 2 was much better and I could recommend that movie.

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your comments below!

PATTY @ A Mother’s Random Thoughts

Reviewing movies for parents from a Christian perspective since 2005. Know Before You Go!

Christian Homeschooling mom – 30 years and counting

Autism Mom & Disney enthusiast

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Schooling with disney’s pinocchio movie plus review, 6 thoughts on “what happened to beatrix potter’s peter rabbit a parent review”.

I think you’re correct on this movie. I cringed through it to see if there were any redeeming quality. Im glad someone in this world is standing up for good morals.

I think you may have misinterpreted the scene with the carrot and the farmer’s bottom! I think Peter was considering dropping the carrot in the farmer’s trousers between his butt cheeks not actually *up* his bottom. I see nothing even remotely sexual about this scene!

No matter how you interpret this scene, it is not appropriate in a child’s movie.

Please be realistic, this is a great movie, to be watched by all, children and teenagers. Given that children of today’s generation, are now mini adults, they grow up so fast. They won’t be affected, by what’s seen within this movie, or will they notice the bad parts, unless you draw attention to it. eg the allergy issues, or big bad mr fox, its all part of a great movie. for heave’s sake. What about watership down, and their gas chambers, within their warrens ?? Inc General BIG BAD MR BIGWIG ? please be realistic, thanks.

I appreciate your comments, but after decades of watching children respond to movies, my review stands as written. Children want to please the adults in their lives, and if you are taking them to see a movie, they will most often say they like it to please you. Many movie bloggers praise movies without giving the negatives. I am giving parents the good and the bad and they can decide if they want to see it. People can either trust my recommendation or not. That is entirely up to them.

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Director : Will Gluck

Writers : Rob Lieber & Will Gluck. Based on the work of Beatrix Potter.

Composer : Dominic Lewis

Starring : James Corden, Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne

Genre : Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy

Thanks to a horrid trailer, no one at GUG really believed that this adaptation of Peter Rabbit would be any good. Suspecting only a vapid form of entertainment, one that trashed the cherished tale from Beatrix Potter, critics were quick to cry that this film would bomb. So it came and went from American cinemas… along with any negativity. It seemed that the film wasn’t as bad as it seemed, and many parents vouched that not only did it contain some charm, but it was also funny.

I still wasn’t convinced to spend money on a ticket. That was until I attended a party. A friend, knowing that I was a film critic, claimed that no matter what opinion I had about the movie, it wouldn’t change the fact that she loved it. She didn’t care if it wasn’t perfect or critically acclaimed, she had a hoot! Now I was curious! With more than a few positive reviews rolling in, and friends saying it was the funniest thing they’ve seen this year, I finally found myself booking one of the last sessions in Australian cinemas. So was this film worth a look? Did we miss something here?

Content Guide

Violence/Scary Images: It’s revealed that Peter’s dad was eaten in a pie (not seen on camera). A human dies suddenly due to natural causes. The animals and humans repeatedly express desires to kill each other. Numerous near-death experiences: electrocution, explosions with sticks of dynamite, getting whacked with rakes and rat traps, anaphylactic shock. Cruelty towards animals; characters almost bludgeoned or drowned. Some of these issues are addressed in the main review.

Language/Crude Humor: No swears, but insults are used: halfwit, imbecile, idiot, stupid, butt, heck, and country bumpkin.

Drug/Alcohol References: A character is seen drinking alcohol in a quick montage–it’s meant to depict an unhealthy lifestyle. During a wild house party, several characters act as though they’re high or drunk, though no such substances are consumed, only vegetables. A running gag involves squeezing berries and letting the juice drip to the ground whenever a deceased character is mentioned. This is a gang member reference.

Sexual Content: Two characters date, flirt, and kiss. Wearing low pants, the crack of a bottom is shown. A male character is seen in his boxers. A rooster crows about fertilizing eggs. There is a joke about the new meaning of the word “homewrecker”, streaking, and a jacket with buttons that look like nipples. Peter sticks his head out of a hole in the crotch of a pair of jeans.

Other Negative Content : The main protagonist is poorly behaved and is not a good role model. The antagonist is equally despicable.

Positive Content: The film has a lot to say about the nastiness of jealousy and revenge, along with the power of forgiveness.

Peter Rabbit is certainly not the crass, immature movie that was initially advertised to audiences, though it may unexpectedly appeal more to adults than children. Under the guise of being incredibly insipid, once given a chance, the film reveals multiple clever narrative choices that both modernize the early 20th-century book while also staying true to its core essence.

If we think back to the original source material, Peter Rabbit was always the naughty bunny. Causing and getting into mischief was his character trait; an archetype that goes hand in hand with Jemima Puddle-Duck’s naivety and Mrs. Tittlemouse’s cleanliness. The film goes to the trouble of deepening Peter’s motives. Orphaned and without any older role models of the same species, the rabbits (Peter, his sisters, and Benjamin) display delinquent behaviors, recklessly interacting with Old Mr. McGregor (a very well-disguised Sam Neill) out of bitterness and for the sheer thrill of it. Given his traumatic past, Peter’s antics make sense on a psychological level, and as far as the narrative goes, it’s a logical step to then adapt this character as an immature frat boy that’s neither child nor an adult, reveling in dangerous sensory-seeking pursuits.

The first act of the film follows the original tale rather closely. Though once all those story beats are hit, it becomes obvious that a straight adaptation was never going to stretch out into a feature-length movie. Bolstered with deeper characterization, the narrative is blessed further with the clever introduction of two additional characters–Bea (Rose Byrne) and Mr. McGregor’s son, fabulously played by Domhnall Gleeson. Children will be entertained by the continual family feud, whereas adults might oddly relate to Gleeson’s attitudes, and enjoy the meta references the film provides, as, you may have guessed, Bea is a nod to Beatrix Potter.

Due to its acknowledgment and almost being an outright author-insert, Peter Rabbit develops a charm that’s similar to 2006’s Miss Potter . By closely following the tale in the opening act, then paying tribute to Beatrix Potter for the rest of the runtime, the film is therefore rather mindful and respectful of the source material, much more than what the original trailer suggests.

The only downside is that it has trouble balancing the fictional and factual worlds. It’s never really clear as to what the film’s rules are in regards to the rabbits’ appearance. Why is it that their clothing rarely is mentioned? At first, I assumed that the story was being presented through Bea’s imaginative eyes, though it’s soon revealed that it’s not the case, and McGregor and Bea’s perceptions are wildly different. Are the anthropomorphized actions a fantasy that the audience is a part of, or is that how the rabbits actually behave in the real world of the film? Unfortunately, the movie takes too long to clarify the story’s mechanics.

In any case, Peter Rabbit is one of the more self-referential children’s films in existence. As such, its level of humor is elevated. This movie could have easily resorted to gaining cheap laughs by repeatedly joking about bathroom habits. While a lot of the comedy is slapstick, the film has enough self awareness to reach out to the adults in the audience, sit down beside them, commiserate over the fact that we have seen this type of story before, but reassures them with a clever wink and an appreciated nod, all in tune to a catchy rock song.

I’m certain there are plenty more hidden jokes and references to be found on DVD.

Peter Rabbit does have wonderful comedic timing, with Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson seemingly having a blast in their slightly exaggerated roles. Yet if the movie’s type of humor doesn’t tickle your funny bone, it is at least a beautifully rendered film. For the vast majority of the runtime, the animals are gorgeously animated, with great attention given to each individual strand of fur, though there is an odd moment or two where the characters don’t seem to be living in the same space as the real world.

James Corden’s voice really does suit the titular happy-go-lucky mischievous rabbit. Though one can’t really admire this particular protagonist as he is heavily flawed and essentially a horrible role model for children. Though his bad behavior must be assessed within the context of the film’s wider morality tale. This is the point where I must address Peter Rabbit ’s most notorious scandal–the scene concerning food allergies, and the characters’ inappropriate attitudes towards sufferers.

For a movie aimed at kids, the film does feature quite a bit of violence, though it’s never gory. If you’re concerned about this, then a good litmus test would be Home Alone . The holiday flick is a classic due to Macaulay Culkin’s charming attitude and his ingenious traps, though if you now look back on the film as an adult and cringe at how psychopathic and deadly the protagonist’s action are, then you will most likely develop the same viewpoint regarding Peter Rabbit, as both films share the same lethal slapstick humor.

The film is violent but doesn’t take it seriously. That can be a problem depending on your viewpoint.

In defense of the animated movie, that level of violence can be justified. Both McGregors in the story wish to kill the rabbits because, well, that’s how humans treat rodents. Exterminating pests isn’t perceived as a seriously heavy topic. Peter and the rest of his family seem to understand that this is how the world works (though they wish it could change), and life and death situations occur every day. Acting out as a way to avoid growing up, Peter actually thrives on the excitement of these close encounters. So in a weird way, it makes sense for the rabbits to treat the death of a human just as frivolously. Soon a potentially deadly tit-for-tat game develops between the two species–despite the content, the mood of the film is kept light and silly.

That is until the food allergy scene. Before then, a number of dangerous scenarios are treated flippantly–electrocution, bear traps, and the like. Yet when Peter conceives the idea of using McGregor’s blackberry allergy against him, while it’s not necessarily more deadly than what has already been shown, it is more personal. Benjamin, who operates as the voice of reason in this film, blatantly states the seriousness of these types of medical conditions, to which Peter then acknowledges that fact… Except it’s “ this guy!” Peter knows it’s wrong but wants to make an exception.

Once again the film displays its sense of self-awareness by directly addressing the audience’s concerns. It even goes as far to say straight to the camera that they hope they won’t “get any letters”, especially given that they’ve openly discussed it. Context is everything. Though even with the film lampshading the issue, it’s understandable that parents are worried that a child may think it’s funny to smuggle in peanut butter or another high allergy-risk food and give it to a person they dislike. In any case, adults may feel the need to speak to their kids afterward to clarify the incident.

So did the scene need to be in there in the first place? Could the whole issue have been avoided? Yes and no. Since the entire story is founded on life or death stakes, it needed an event of considerable weight to propel it forward. Toying with a food allergy keeps those stakes high, makes it personal, while also being potentially non-lethal. Aside from poisoning, there aren’t many other acts that could narratively achieve the same outcome without getting too gruesome. This moment does change the film. Peter has gone too far, and it’s the catalyst for a new wave of hostility. Maybe another act could have been chosen, but unlike Show Dog ’s horrendously ill-thought scenes involving the acceptance of molestation, removing the food allergy bit isn’t a simple cut, as it’s a critical piece of the plot.

Regardless of the film’s slapstick violence, there are some lovely messages throughout the movie. It offers a rather mature lesson regarding the independence of friendships–just because you don’t like someone doesn’t mean that everyone else has to hate them as well. Other people have the right to befriend who they wish, and it’s not them who need to change, but rather your attitude towards the whole situation. Honestly, there are a few adults in my life that I feel could benefit from the moral of this movie!

Ultimately Peter Rabbit isn’t as sincere or beautifully structured as a Pixar flick, nor is it as wonderfully charming as this year’s Paddington 2 (which is a tough film to beat in general, as I’m sure it’s still in 2018’s top 10 for many critics). Yet for a children’s movie done in this schlocky style, which has become a bit of a sub-genre in itself, it’s very good. There’s a cleverness to its wit despite some whimsical stupidity.

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Film Review: ‘Peter Rabbit’

Beatrix Potter fans will be torn between wanting to hug a photo-real Peter Rabbit and wanting to scream at what Hollywood has done with him.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Chances are, Beatrix Potter would be flattered to know that one day, more than a century after she published “The Tale of Peter Rabbit ,” her most beloved character would be reinterpreted on screen not as a traditional cartoon (even though her work paved the way for the likes of Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse) but as a photo-real, fully anthropomorphic rabbit, complete with opposable thumbs and a tiny blue jacket. Certainly, that much “Peter Rabbit” gets right, although Sony’s new half-digital/live-action hybrid takes entirely too many liberties with everything else.

Despite the fact she dressed her critters in human clothes and frequently painted them standing upright, Potter took great pains to capture their natural, animal-like qualities. In theory, the folks at Sony Pictures Animation (the studio behind “Stuart Little”) and Animal Logic (which brought us “Babe” and “Charlotte’s Web”) seem like the perfect stewards of that legacy. And yet, director Will Gluck (“Easy A”) and co-writer Rob Lieber thrust Peter into what feels like an elaborate Tom and Jerry cartoon, as the crafty bunny finds himself caught in an escalating arms race with the heir to Mr. McGregor’s garden.

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Yes, it’s impressive from a visual effects standpoint (not just virtual fur coats that seem to rustle in the wind, but the degree to which the CG critters interact with their environments, matting the grass and kicking up gravel). However, had Potter lived to see what Hollywood has cooked up for her mischievous hero (who was sent to bed without supper in her own didactic tale), she almost certainly would have preferred for Peter (charmingly voiced by James Corden ) and his three more cautious sisters — Flopsy (Margot Robbie), Mopsy (Elizabeth Debicki), and Cotton-Tail (Daisy Ridley) — to have wound up in one of Mrs. McGregor’s infamous rabbit pies.

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That said, children’s entertainment being what it is today, hardly anyone will be surprised to learn that Peter now sings along with Vampire Weekend and uses expressions such as “chill” and “crushed it,” or that Cotton-Tail pours one out for her departed homies whenever Mr. McGregor’s name is mentioned. (Did we mention that Mr. McGregor bites it early in the first act?) As if to signal that this isn’t your grandparents’ “Peter Rabbit,” the movie kills off the long-eared trespasser’s longtime nemesis (played here by Sam Neill, virtually unrecognizable with his bulging eyes and crazy-old-man beard) just as he gets his hands on the vermin who’s been stealing his veggies.

Potter herself appears, in a manner of speaking, as Mr. McGregor’s next-door neighbor, and the Rabbit family’s closest ally, Bea (Rose Byrne). An aspiring artist and amateur naturalist, Bea spends most of her time making horrible abstract oil paintings (some kind of joke, largely miscalculated), but is also capable of creating extremely detailed old-timey watercolors (which anyone will recognize as the book’s original illustrations) — some of which spring to life to create a few of the movie’s most charming sequences.

Quite inexplicably, Byrne’s smiley, yet simple-minded character appears to have been conceived backwards: In her art, Bea anthropomorphizes the woodland creatures that surround her home, and yet, she is the last to believe that they can really talk (or use their paws to set off detonators, for that matter). Somehow, it seems as if she should be alone in recognizing the secret lives of animals, and that the point of the movie ought to be convincing Thomas McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson), who inherits his great-uncle’s bucolic cottage, that there’s more to these creatures than meets the eye.

Instead, the movie plays like a variation on another of Potter’s stories, “The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse,” in which two mice — one from the city, the other from the country — visit one another, only to decide that the quite prefer life where each of them was raised. After being unceremoniously discharged from the toy department of Harrods department store in London, Thomas heads to the Lake District to sell his newly inherited estate — which has since been destroyed by a rowdy rodent house party.

Drawing from Potter’s extended menagerie of characters, this peculiar set piece (a glimpse into the anarchy that might result if Peter Rabbit actually got his way) includes such unruly guests as a waistcoat-wearing badger (Tommy Brock), the snooty Pigling Bland (Ewen Leslie), and prickly Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (Sia). Kids are also likely to appreciate a loud-mouth rooster (Will Reichelt) who announces each new day in a state of discombobulated panic, although one wonders how long these creatures would enjoy the spoils of Mr. McGregor’s garden before being forced to grow up and learn the ways of agriculture.

Never mind such quibbles. The moral here is, “They were here first, we’re the latecomers” — which is a helpful lesson for modern-day kids to hear (Potter herself bequeathed some 4,000 acres to Britain’s National Trust), although somewhat impractical as far as pest-control is concerned. That said, Thomas is rather extreme in his methods, employing rusty garden tools, grisly traps, electrified fences, and even dynamite in his attempts to solve his rabbit infestation — each of which Peter manages to turn against him. (Fortunately, they stop just short of using poison.)

Don’t forget, Bea loves the creatures, which complicates things somewhat when a rather implausible romance blooms almost instantly between the two humans, which only serves to escalate the stakes on Peter’s side — not that it makes much sense. Absolutely no one in the audience is rooting for him and Bea to wind up together (that’s an icky idea), and if Peter succeeds in driving Thomas back to the city, some new owner’s just going to come in and find a way to keep the rabbits out of the garden. That means, everyone’s going to have to learn to get along, and in order to do that, the movie has to concoct some elaborate détente where everyone begs one another’s forgiveness. But that leaves at least one apology still owed: to Potter and all her fans.

Reviewed at Pacific Theaters at the Grove, Feb. 3, 2018. MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 95 MIN.

• Production: A Sony Pictures release of a Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation presentation, in association with 2.0 Entertainment, of a Animal Logic Entertainment, Olive Bridge Entertainment. Producers: Will Gluck, Zareh Naibandian. Executive producers: Doug Belgrad, Jodi Hildebrand, Catherine Bishop, Susan Bolsover, Emma Topping, Rob Lieber, Jason Lust, Jonathan Hludzinski. Co-producer: Christian Gazal.
• Crew: Director: Will Gluck. Screenplay, story: Rob Lieber, Gluck, based on the characters and Tales of "Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. Camera (color, widescreen): Peter Menzies, Jr. Editors: Christian Gazal, Jonathan Tappin. Music: Dominic Lewis.
• With: James Corden, Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, Sam Neill, Daisy Ridley, Elizabeth Debicki, Marianne Jean Baptiste, Sia, Colin Moody, Margot Robbie.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, peter rabbit 2: the runaway.

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The bunnies are fluffy, the produce is bountiful, and the antics are consistently lively in “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.” And yet it’s hard to escape the feeling that Will Gluck ’s follow-up to 2018’s “ Peter Rabbit ” is straining to capture the fast-paced, meta whimsy of the original while also cramming in a whole bunch of new characters and themes. The result feels bogged down, albeit with sporadic moments of playful inspiration.

This live-action, CG-animated adventure once again looks spectacular, though, with the high-tech, talking creatures integrated seamlessly into the film’s twee English location. You truly feel as if you could reach out and touch Peter’s furry head and give him a little pet—if you’d want to, that is. The script from director Gluck and Patrick Burleigh , inspired by the beloved Beatrix Potter children’s book series, pushes Peter’s impishness into territory that’s more obnoxious, supposedly for the purpose of learning life lessons about ... not selling out?

That’s one of the troubling through-lines here: an awareness of commercializing these characters by taking them from their traditional, quiet setting and placing them in a zanier, contemporary one while also making fun of that choice. Rose Byrne ’s character—named Bea, in case you couldn’t figure out the connection—is now the author of a sweet, illustrated book about Peter and his animal friends, with plans for a 23-book series, the same number Potter produced. As Bea finds herself succumbing to the thrills of fame and success, one of the rabbits remarks that the whole enterprise will probably be adapted into “a sassy hipfest for commercial gain—probably by an American,” with a knowing look into the camera. And eventually, Peter and his pals go on the kind of outrageous adventures Bea believes would be too implausible for her characters and too unconscionable for her as a writer.

At the film’s start, though, Bea and Thomas McGregor ( Domhnall Gleeson , physically game as always) are getting married, surrounded by their friends and the farm animals. Mr. McGregor and Peter (voiced once again by the ubiquitous James Corden ) have reached an uneasy détente over the two loves they share: vegetables and Bea. But when charismatic and handsome publisher Nigel Basil-Jones ( David Oyelowo )—a name so British it could earn him a spot in Spinal Tap—also takes a liking to Bea and her work, it complicates everything. A trip to London makes Peter realize he’s being turned into a villainous figure in Basil-Jones’ vision of the Peter Rabbit universe. He figures: “Why not be a bad guy if I’m just going to get framed as one?” and takes up with a Fagin-like fellow rabbit, a street thief named Barnabas ( Lennie James ), and his gang of crafty kittens.

The highlight of this alliance is a grand scheme to rob the local farmers market—because planning the heist is hilariously detailed, and also because the depiction of the artisanal specialties in store is so universal. During a house burglary, Barnabas also has an extremely relatable line about how every refrigerator contains an expensive bottle of champagne, just waiting to be opened at a special occasion that never comes. (My 11-year-old even recognized that one: “It’s true!” he leaned over and whispered during a screening.) Meanwhile, Peter’s true family and friends—including narrator Flopsy ( Margot Robbie ), Mopsy ( Elizabeth Debicki ), Cottontail ( Aimee Horne ) and Benjamin ( Colin Moody )—mostly show up here and there for wacky interludes, including Cottontail’s discovery of the wonders of jellybeans.

There’s an amusing running gag in which a busking squirrel (singer-songwriter Tim Minchin ) just happens to show up everywhere, all the time, and perform exactly the song that sums up how Peter is feeling. But a lot of the self-referential jokes here are callbacks to the first film: the deer in the headlights, the rooster who thinks he makes the sun come up each morning. Sure, you gotta play the hits, but these bits feel flat this time.

By indulging in the exact same instincts it insists are problematic artistically, “Peter Rabbit 2” wants to have its carrot and eat it, too. But maybe that won’t bother you. Maybe you’ll be grateful for a return to the theater and the opportunity to do so with your kids. In that regard, the sequel hops along in sufficiently bouncy fashion.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021)

Rated PG for some rude humor and action.

Rose Byrne as Bea

Domhnall Gleeson as Mr. Thomas McGregor

James Corden as Peter Rabbit (voice)

David Oyelowo as Nigel Basil-Jones

Margot Robbie as Flopsy (voice)

Elizabeth Debicki as Mopsy (voice)

Aimee Horne as Cotton-tail (voice)

Lennie James as Barnabas (voice)

Rupert Degas as Samuel Whiskers / Little Pig Robinson (voice)

Ewen Leslie as Pigling Bland (voice)

Hayley Atwell as Mittens (voice)

Sam Neill as Tommy Brock (voice)

Sia as Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)

David Wenham as Johnny Town-Mouse (voice)

Writer (based on the characters and tales of "Peter Rabbit" by)

• Beatrix Potter
• Patrick Burleigh

Cinematographer

• Peter Menzies Jr.
• Dominic Lewis

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Peter rabbit, common sense media reviewers.

Action-heavy take on classic books has peril, edgy jokes.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

In the books, Peter learns not to go into Mr. McGr

Characters make lots of iffy decisions (including

Peter apologizes in the end, but it seems more abo

Peter and his sisters have lost both of their pare

Two human characters fall in love. Dating/flirting

Insult/crude words include "halfwit," "imbecile,"

Connected to lots of offline Peter Rabbit merchand

During the animals' rowdy house party, it's implie

Parents need to know that Peter Rabbit is a live-action/animated movie based on Beatrix Potter's classic books and starring James Corden as the voice of Peter. It doesn't have the same mild, pastel-hued feel of the stories, though: There's lots of frenetic action, including perilous chases, attacks with…

Educational Value

In the books, Peter learns not to go into Mr. McGregor's garden, where he isn't supposed to go. In the movie, Peter essentially gets away with all kinds of mayhem with a simple apology, though he does learn a few things about himself.

Positive Messages

Characters make lots of iffy decisions (including lying and deceiving each other) and treat each other poorly; although there are apologies at the end, it seems a bit too little, too late for what transpired. But Peter and Thomas do find a way to get along in the end and work together for Bea's sake, and characters do talk about the fact that love isn't a finite thing: There's enough to go around for everyone. Peter also learns to listen to others ... sometimes. Jokes about Mr. McGregor dying of "bad lifestyle choices" (i.e., drinking and lots of junk food) and a few fat jokes at the expense of Benjamin bunny and a pig character -- but the movie does make eating vegetables look like fun.

Positive Role Models

Peter apologizes in the end, but it seems more about saving himself than because he really regrets his reckless behavior. Thomas pretends to be a different kind of person than he really is to appeal to Bea. Bea is gentle and shows kindness toward animals but is sometimes quick to judge other humans. Peter and Thomas are awful to each other but do eventually make peace and work as a team to help Bea. Peter is protective of his sisters and Benjamin, but all the animals do steal from the garden. Some stereotyping (particularly a priggish pig character).

Violence & Scariness

Peter and his sisters have lost both of their parents; their dad for sure was eaten in a pie by Old Mr. McGregor (there's a flashback to the sadness that caused). Old Mr. McGregor dies unexpectedly of a heart attack; Peter pokes his open eye to check. Several perilous situations (rabbits are caught by humans more than once), plus dynamite, explosions, and dangerous pranks; animals attack a human with blackberries after discovering he's allergic to them (he has a reaction and must treat himself with an EpiPen). Humans chase rabbits, threaten them with rakes, etc. One supporting character briefly seems to be dead (she's not). Threats of rabbit-eating. Lots of chasing and falling. Human characters are shocked repeatedly by electricity and snapped in rat traps. Joke about broken ribs. Temper tantrums that include destruction of property.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Two human characters fall in love. Dating/flirting scenes, kissing. Nonsexual, but part of Old Mr. McGregor's bottom is shown (Peter tries to insert a carrot into the exposed crack). Joke about how Peter doesn't wear pants. Peter briefly flirts with a "cute" girl bunny. A rooster talks about having "fertilized all those eggs" and tries to become a responsible father to many baby chicks. Visual joke about Peter's face appearing in the crotch opening of a pair of jeans. Joke about the meaning of the word "homewrecker." A fox goes "streaking." A joke about a jacket includes a reference to nipples. Thomas is shown in his boxers.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Insult/crude words include "halfwit," "imbecile," "idiot," "stupid," "butt," "heck," and "country bumpkin."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Connected to lots of offline Peter Rabbit merchandise. Thomas works at the famous British department store Harrods and drives a Land Rover.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

During the animals' rowdy house party, it's implied that one character is high. In a montage of Old Mr. McGregor's poor lifestyle choices, he's shown drinking. Running joke in which, whenever anyone talks about someone who has died, characters squeeze berries and let the juice run to the ground -- a reference to gang members pouring beer on the ground to memorialize dead friends. Background characters smoke cigarettes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Peter Rabbit is a live-action/animated movie based on Beatrix Potter's classic books and starring James Corden as the voice of Peter. It doesn't have the same mild, pastel-hued feel of the stories, though: There's lots of frenetic action, including perilous chases, attacks with weapons and traps, explosions, and even death. Old Mr. McGregor dies on-screen, and Peter's parents are said to be dead (his father was eaten in a pie). There are also threats, arguments, and temper tantrums, and at one point the animals attack their human enemy with blackberries, knowing he's allergic to them (he has a reaction and must treat himself with an EpiPen). The two main human characters ( Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson ) fall in love and kiss once. Part of Old Mr. McGregor's buttocks is shown; Peter tries to poke a carrot in the crack. A rooster talks about "fertilizing all those eggs" and then tries to be a good father to a gaggle of baby chicks. Language is mild overall but includes insult words like "stupid," "idiot," and "imbecile." A couple of quick scenes include references to drinking and the implication that a character is high (the latter will likely go over kids' heads), and background characters smoke cigarettes. The main characters make lots of iffy decisions, and everyone behaves rather badly until an apology at the end that seems a bit too little, too late. But they do learn a few lessons about listening to others and the fact that there's enough love to go around for everyone. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (163)
• Kids say (75)

Based on 163 parent reviews

Slapstick funny

Perfect opportunity to teach, what's the story.

In PETER RABBIT, Peter (voiced by James Corden ) and his family -- sisters Flopsy ( Margot Robbie ), Mopsy ( Elizabeth Debicki ), and Cotton-Tail ( Daisy Ridley ) and cousin Benjamin ( Colin Moody ) -- are without parents thanks to mean Old Mr. McGregor ( Sam Neill ). So the young rabbits regularly break into his garden to steal vegetables. Then one day, Mr. McGregor dies suddenly, so all the local animals take over his house. But a distant nephew, Thomas McGregor ( Domhnall Gleeson ), gets word of his inheritance and, hoping to sell the farm and open a toy store in London, decides to check it out. He meets pretty, bunny-loving neighbor/artist, Bea ( Rose Byrne ), and is smitten. Determined not to let her know about his deep-seated anger issues, he puts on an easygoing facade -- all the while trying to get rid of the rabbits (permanently) without her knowing. Peter, in turn, wants Thomas to go away, so he plays all manner of vicious tricks on him. Eventually, the situation literally becomes explosive.

Is It Any Good?

Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit books were simple and charming, but this adaptation just tries too hard. It's frantically paced, but it still feels padded/stretched out with too many pop songs and too many dumb jokes. Peter Rabbit also has a surprising amount of death in it, and it gets tricky to figure out whom to root for, since almost everyone in the movie behaves pretty poorly. But Thomas gets the edge, since he's human, and Gleeson is able to bring a hint of sadness and loneliness to his role. Peter, on the other hand, has too much in common with the arrogant, yappy, hyperactive "E.B." in 2011's Hop . The filmmakers couldn't even seem to decide on one simple rule: whether humans could hear and understand the rabbits.

Peter Rabbit also attempts a kind of "meta-ness" (i.e., having characters occasionally address the camera and making wink-wink references to anthropomorphic animals, etc.) that isn't much funnier than the regular jokes. Overall, the humor isn't exactly vulgar, but it also isn't smart. And whenever the movie gets stuck, which is often, it throws in another pop song. The only time it comes close to evoking Potter's books is when it briefly digresses into what look like hand-drawn animated sequences inspired by Potter's original artwork. If only the filmmakers had realized what they were missing.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the action/ violence in Peter Rabbit . Were you expecting all of the chases and explosions? Did they bother you? Was it upsetting to see or hear about characters dying?

Which characters are role models ? Why? Do they learn any lessons or display any character strengths ?

How does this take on Peter compare with the character in the books? Which do you prefer, and why?

Did you notice any stereotypes in the movie? If so, is that OK?

What audience do you think the movie is most intended to appeal to? How can you tell?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 9, 2018
• On DVD or streaming : May 1, 2018
• Cast : James Corden , Domhnall Gleeson , Rose Byrne
• Director : Will Gluck
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Book Characters , Wild Animals
• Run time : 89 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : some rude humor and action
• Last updated : May 27, 2024

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• DVD & Streaming

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway

• Action/Adventure , Comedy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• June 11, 2021
• Domhnall Gleeson as Mr. Thomas McGregor; Rose Byrne as Bea; David Oyelowo as Nigel Basil-Jones; And featuring the voices of James Corden as Peter Rabbit; Margot Robbie as Flopsy Rabbit; Elizabeth Debicki as Mopsy Rabbit; Aimee Horne as Cottontail Rabbit; Lennie James as Barnabas; Colin Moody as Benjamin Bunny

Home Release Date

• July 27, 2021

Distributor

• Sony Pictures

Movie Review

The sweet and loving Bea and her animal-wary beau Thomas are married. And they and Bea’s beloved rabbit “children”—Peter, Mopsy, Flopsy, Cottontail and Benjamin—are all living in share-the-garden harmony.

Well, kinda.

There’s still a bit of tension between Peter Rabbit and Thomas. Thomas doesn’t really trust the rascally bunny. And Peter, well, he’s pretty sure that Thomas wants to start a family of human children, and when that happens, the rabbits will be tossed out on their fluffy little tails: no garden, no Bea, no nothing!

That new family tension comes to a head when Bea is approached by a big London publisher who wants to transform her charming little children’s book (about a group of garden rabbits) into a mega-seller. Problem is, he also wants to change things up a bit and transform the Peter character in her book (and based, of course, on the real-life rascally rabbit) into a sneering villain.

Peter’s none too happy about that.

On top of those irksome things, Peter meets a fellow bunny named Barnabas while in London, and that roughed-up-rabbit invites Peter into something of a bad crowd of city critters. Bad bunny Barnabas may well have known Peter’s dad way-back-when. And he’s planning an audacious farmer’s market heist that he’s sure Peter would be perfect for.  

Peter can’t help but think that maybe all this was meant to be. Maybe he is nothing more than a thief and troublemaker. And maybe he could find a place with his dad’s old friend before Thomas officially kicks him out anyway.

You know rabbits. Sometimes they can be a lot like children. And sometimes they can be oh, so silly.

Positive Elements

In a very self-aware, meta turn, this film plays with the idea of updating Bea’s Peter Rabbit story—transforming the rabbits into commercialized moneymakers that don’t fit the author’s initial sweet purpose. But it also uses that idea (and some other elements) to encourage young viewers to find their place and purpose in life and to stay true to the earnest goals that drive you.

On top of that, Peter’s adventure points to the fact that a family’s love can be transformative and beneficial. And that family, it tells us, isn’t just one thing. It can take many different forms and shapes, and still be a wonderful and loving group.

This pic also winkingly points to the fact that we can all make positive changes in our lives. For example, Peter tells a fox character that he doesn’t have to go chasing the other animals since they can all share the garden freely. And the fox decides to try running “without a terrified animal in front of you.” He eventually becomes strong and athletic.

Spiritual Elements

Sexual content.

After Peter meets Barnabas, he goes to Benjamin Rabbit to tell him he met someone. Benjamin thinks it’s a girl rabbit and gets excited about Peter’s romantic possibilities. Peter says it’s a thief named Barnabas. And Benjamin replies, “You do not have my permission to kiss a thief!”

There are nods to the fact that marriage can lead to having babies. A mouse character emphasizes that by displaying his 15 kids’ pictures after his first month of marriage.

Some viewers may interpret a certain pig in the movie as a “gay” character. But other than embodying some cliched stereotypes, nothing in the film suggests the pig’s actual romantic preferences.

Violent Content

At one point, Barnabas asks Peter how he’s so good at some of the mischief-causing things he does and Peter replies that he’s “terrible at foreign languages, great at cartoon violence.” And we see plenty of that cartoony human and CGI critter pummeling here.

Thomas gets thumped around quite a bit between rolling violently down a hill and other pummeling activities. And a woman is comically bashed by a refrigerator door, sprayed with champagne and slams into the floor and other solid surfaces while trying to catch Peter.

Peter also imagines a wedding rumble between humans and animals. In turn, Peter and other animals are swatted by broom-wielding humans. A pair of rambunctious children play roughly with their pets. CGI animals of all stripes are tossed about in the course of chase scenes and tumbling action. It’s all played for giggles.

One particular scene appears to be turning ugly, though, when Barnabas and his animal crew tie up a nosey pig and tell Peter to take care of him . Peter balks at the idea of purposely hurting someone and says nervously, “I don’t do this.” And then the other animals and the pig all laugh and say it was a joke.

Near the end of the film, captured animals are sold to human owners and, in some cases, it appears that the animals (a pig, a rabbit and a frog) are going to be used to make food stuffs and used for school science lab dissection. But Peter, Bea and Thomas rescue them all in the nick of time.

Crude or Profane Language

Drug and alcohol content.

Sugar becomes something of an addictive substance for Cottontail Rabbit when she first gets a taste of a jellybean and then can’t stuff enough of the sweet delights into her mouth. She becomes obsessed with the colorful beans and later offers one to a baby, saying, “Try this jellybean. It’ll change your life.”

Peter and Barnabas also find a bottle of champagne in someone’s refrigerator and spray a woman in the face with the bubbly brew.

Other Negative Elements

There’s a bit of winking toilet humor mixed in throughout the script. One cat character, for example, reports that he’s “freezin’ my catnip off” when coming inside from the cold. In another instance, a rabbit decides to shake up her ordered life and change her name to “lavatory” … until she finds out what it means. We hear some belching giggles and the like.

A woman tells her kids, “They’re animals. They don’t have feelings!” Peter and his animal friends are also pulled in to stealing things. And someone not only justifies theft and bad behavior but eventually betrays those who trusted him. (But there’s a definite comeuppance for all those bad behaviors.)

Movies, like rabbits, can sometimes feel a lot like children, too.

There are times when they are bad . And when they’re naughty, you can’t help but want to give them a stern look, maybe shake a finger, and say NO! You might even feel it necessary to calmly explain why the things they did were very, very bad or harmful.

On the other hand, when movies, and rabbits, are good—when they’re sweet, and kind and funny and, perhaps, don’t do anything out of the ordinary but be their natural little lovable selves—you can’t help but smile and admire them.

All right, maybe that’s pushing the analogy too far. But you get the point.

Peter Rabbit 2 is a sweet little pic about a group of childlike and sometimes mischievous rabbits that’s a very natural delight. The blending of live action and CGI is seamless and appealing. The sequel adventure frolics fearlessly to and fro and actually makes for a much better story than the first film. And it comes packing nice little lessons about loving and relying on family, as well as some smile-worthy meta-ruminations on finding your place and purpose in life.

Purists may still lament that Beatrix Potter’s gentle countryside rabbits aren’t really represented here. But kids won’t care. And frankly, I can’t imagine most adults will either. They’ll be too busy smiling.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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'Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway' Movie Review

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In PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY, Peter becomes upset when other people think he’s still the same mischievous troublemaker he used to be, and a new friend entices Peter to bring his family and friends to help out with a big heist at a local farmers market. PETER RABBIT 2 is magical, funny, exciting, and suspenseful, with seamless computer graphics, and has a moral worldview with Christian allusions extolling family, friendship and doing the right thing, but caution is advised for younger children for lots of slapstick violence and other minor content.

The movie opens with Bea and Thomas getting married. However, Peter and Thomas are still not not getting along, and Peter has a daydream before Bea ties the knot with Thomas where he and Thomas get into a big fight, which causes a big fight between the animals and the humans.

A month later, the Peter Rabbit book by Bea that Thomas published for her has become popular and attracted the attention of Nigel Basil-Jones, a charismatic, wealthy publisher in Gloucester (“Gloster”). He wants to publish a fancy edition of the book. She agrees. When Bea tells Nigel she’s started a sequel and wants to write a series of books about Peter, his family and the other animals on their farm, he gets very excited. However, he wants Bea to modernize the sequel and make her drawings of the animals more contemporary. Nigel also envisions more exiting adventures for Peter and his family and friends, with lots of action.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Peter and Thomas continues to deteriorate. Thomas thinks Peter is always up to no good. It doesn’t help that a misunderstanding makes Thomas think Peter is trying to steal the tomatoes Thomas is growing on the farm (the animals get to pick from all the other items growing on the farm). Then, when Bea, Thomas and the rabbits travel to Gloucester, they discover that Nigel also thinks of Peter as a bad bunny.

Hurt by what they think of him, Peter goes wandering off in the city. He meets an older rabbit named Barnabas, who sees the blue jacket Peter inherited from his father and tells Peter he was friends with Peter’s father. Peter learns that Barnabas is the leader of a group of animals, including two cats, who steal food from humans to survive. Barnabas convinces Peter to help him rob food from a family’s home in the city. Peter shows a knack for stealing, and even enjoys the experience, even though he feels sorry for the woman who tries to stop them. Maybe Peter is a bad bunny after all, like everyone says, Peter thinks.

Barnabas invites Peter to join his gang of thieves. He mentions a big heist he wants to do, that would feed his gang for a long time. However, he would need more animals to help steal the food. Peter is reluctant to join the gang of thieves. However, when there’s a further tussle with Thomas on the farm, Peter decides to enlist the help of his family and friends for the big heist.

Except for the roosters, all the animals on the farm meet up with Barnabas and his gang to plan the heist. Complications ensue, however, and Thomas happens to be there to witness the thievery. Making matters worse, Peter’s family and friends get snatched by a pet store that adopts the animals out to different people, including a butcher and a man who wants to cook a tasty rabbit stew!

PETER RABBIT 2 starts as a romantic fantasy, then changes into a comedy, a heist movie, and an adventure rescue movie. As such, it is magical, funny, exciting, and, finally, suspenseful. The combination of the live action humans with the computer-generated animals is seamless, and James Corden imbues Peter with a wide range of emotions and character traits, with help from the script, of course.

Although there’s a lot of stealing in PETER RABBIT 2, Peter eventually learns the errors of his ways. He also learns not to let other people or animals define him, especially when they try to limit his identity to the kind of mischievous rabbit he used to be.

In the first movie, released in 2018, Peter learned to do the right thing instead of always causing trouble. In the new movie, Peter is still behaving himself, but he’s upset that Bea’s new husband, Thomas, who inherited the farm on which they all live, still doesn’t trust Peter. Thomas thinks Peter is still the sneaky little troublemaker he used to be. As a result, Peter has become a little jealous of Bea’s affection for Thomas. That’s why he imagines getting into a big fight with Thomas at the wedding in the opening scene.

Then, when they all meet the new publisher, Nigel, it turns out that, because of the first book Bea wrote about Peter, Nigel also thinks Peter is still that same mischievous troublemaker. Causing insult to injury, Bea goes along with Nigel’s plans to paint Peter as the “bad seed” of the second

book too. Barnabas, the wily thief from the city, thinks the same way and sees an opportunity to appeal to Peter’s old self so that he and his gang of thieves can capitalize on Peter’s abilities as a sneaky thief.

Peter’s story may be likened to the life of a new Christian, who, though he’s been redeemed by the blood of Christ, falls in with people or old friends and/or family members who still think he’s the bad sinner he used to be. This may even be true of such a new Christian who hasn’t totally yet shed all of his bad, sinful habits from his past life before his new birth. Or, who has only just begun the sanctification process that is transforming and that will transform his life and his moral character.

So, in PETER RABBIT 2, other people and animals can’t see or refuse to see Peter as the new rabbit he has become. This hurts and angers Peter, and he regresses to the mischievous troublemaker he was at the beginning of the previous movie. When he gets his family and friends in trouble, however, Peter finds Thomas, apologizes to him and gets Thomas to help him save his family and friends.

Besides its Christian, redemptive allegory and implied allusions, PETER RABBIT 2 extols family, friendship, forgiveness, making righteous judgments, rescuing others in trouble, and doing the right thing. It also has some pro-capitalist elements where Peter’s benefactor from the first movie, Bea, battles temptations from the owner of a large publishing company, who wants to modernize her old-fashioned, quaint and uplifting book ideas beyond recognition. By ultimately standing up to the large corporation, Bea’s story becomes sort of a salute to the free market ideals of small private capitalism, as opposed to the impersonal practices and stifling corporate values of too many big businesses.

There’s lots of slapstick violence in PETER RABBIT 2, however. Also, the movie’s strong moral worldview is slightly mitigated by possible Romantic aspects to Peter’s identity crisis. For example, the story suggests that Peter needs to be the kind of rabbit he himself wants to be and not the kind of rabbit that others think he is. Also, the minister at Thomas and Bea’s wedding in the opening scene is a female pastor. This apparently implied feminist slant will upset Christians who believe Paul teaches that only men can be pastors or leaders at a Christian church in 1 Timothy 2:11 Close 1 Timothy 2:11 Women should learn quietly and submissively. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) , where Paul says, “I do not permit a woman to teach ….” Other Christians cite other passages, such as Priscilla in : Close : OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE () who, with her husband, Aquila, instructs Apollos in the Gospel. It should be noted, however, that Priscilla here is working alongside her husband.

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Peter Rabbit updates Beatrix Potter's classic characters with colorfully agreeable results that should entertain younger viewers while admittedly risking the wrath of purists.

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‘peter rabbit’: film review.

James Corden gives voice to the mischievous but beloved 'Peter Rabbit' in the live-action/CGI-animated production.

By Michael Rechtshaffen

Michael Rechtshaffen

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Considerably more manic and less charming than Paddington Bear but decidedly not as annoying as Alvin and his fellow chipmunks, Beatrix Potter’s beloved anthropomorphic bunny makes his live-action/CGI big-screen debut in the eponymous Peter Rabbit with mixed results.

While Potter devotees will no doubt be scandalized by the edgier bad-boy ‘tude now possessed by Mr. McGregor’s mischievous cotton-tailed nemesis, the greater offense committed is the awfully flimsy plotting that fails to take full advantage of terrific production values and the work of an engaging cast led by the affably energetic James Corden .

Release date: Feb 09, 2018

Getting a sizable jump on the Easter bunny (the release was moved up Stateside from its original March 23 berth, presumably so as not to butt heads with the animated Sherlock Gnomes ), the family-friendly film should nevertheless generate some respectable lettuce for Sony.

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How 'peter rabbit' scales beatrix potter's beloved tales for the big screen.

Director Will Gluck, who penned the screenplay along with Rob Lieber , quickly establishes the production’s overtly slapstick tone right from the start, as a quartet of singing birds encircling the iconic Columbia Pictures “Torch Lady” end up as the dazed victims of a hit-and-run by an out-of-control Peter Rabbit ( Corden ).

Refusing to take heed of the fate met by his late father, Peter continues his regular raids on the vegetable garden meticulously tended to by gruff Old Mr. McGregor (Sam Neill), with some trusty back-up from his sisters, triplets Flopsy (Margot Robbie), Mopsy (Elizabeth Debicki ) and Cotton-tail (Daisy Ridley), as well as loyal cousin Benjamin Bunny (Colin Moody).

When the old man abruptly drops dead of a heart attack during one of Peter’s pillages, the rambunctious rabbit and his fellow woodland creatures do some serious celebrating. But the festivities prove short-lived with the arrival of McGregor’s heir, nephew Thomas ( Domhnall Gleeson ).

An uptight, fastidious former manager at London’s famed Harrod’s department store, Thomas intends to sell the property in order to finance the opening of his own toy shop, but he hadn’t counted on distractions from both Peter and his kind human caretaker, artist Bea (Rose Byrne).

The anticipated, prolonged standoff ensues, paving the way for many repeated gags but little in the way of any significant plot progression. Although Gluck, who previously helmed the 2014 feature adaptation of Annie , keeps things hopping along reasonably briskly, the end result is disappointingly hollow, considering the talent pool he had at his disposal.

Even as Corden proves to be a smart voice-casting choice, ably conveying the essential goodness behind the less-than-exemplary behavior, the written character fails to strike the desirable balance between impish and bad-ass. Those tonal issues also prove challenging for the human characters, who are forced to tread an ill-defined line between fallible and cartoonish.

But if it may not sound quite right, the production certainly looks splendid, with the natural live-action backdrops (filmed in England’s Lake District as well as in Sydney, Australia) doing idyllic justice to Potter’s world, while the CGI hits impressively photorealistic fresh heights — right down to the rabbit fur that oscillates convincingly in those gentle country breezes.

Production companies: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, 2.0 Entertainment, Animal Logic Entertainment, Olive Bridge Entertainment Distributor: Sony Cast: James Corden , Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson , Sam Neill, Daisy Ridley, Elizabeth Debicki , Margot Robbie, Colin Moody. Director: Will Gluck Screenwriters: Rob Lieber , Will Gluck Producers: Will Gluck, Zareh Nalbandian Executive producers: Doug Belgrad , Jodi Hildebrand, Catherine Bishop, Susan Bolsover , Emma Topping, Rob Lieber , Jason Lust, Jonathan Hludzinski . Director of photography: Peter Menzies Production designer: Roger Ford Costume designer: Lizzie Gardiner Editors: Christian Gazal , Jonathan Tappin Music: Dominic Lewis

Rated PG, 93 minutes

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Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp. Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp. Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp.

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• August 2, 2024 (United States)
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• Runtime 1 hour 33 minutes

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