Movie Review: Peter Rabbit *Minor Spoilers*

*Minor Spoilers*

We went to see the Peter Rabbit movie on February 10th. We had guests from our of town and so my friend and I took the 5 kids (Ages 6 to 10) to watch it. It was pretty packed, but it was very cold outside and it had looked like a good movie from what we could see in the trailer, so we took a chance even if we sat on the front row.

The movie was funny in parts, this is true, and I enjoyed watching Domhnall Gleeson (who I have been looking forward to be in movies lately, I really like him) in it. The plot is based on whatever happens after the book famous book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit – which I have read.

From what I could see from the trailer, the movie would be about evil Domhnall Gleeson and the rabbits defending themselves from him. A little bit like a Home Alone kinda movie, where Kevin McAllister defends himself from men who want to steal from him. 

Unfortunately, this was not the case. It turns out Domhnall Gleeson’s character is nephew to the original Mr. McGreggor from the book, which actually brings me to my first complain. This is a kids movie and Mr. McGreggor suddenly drops dead of a heart attack. There he is, lying on the ground with his eyes open. Not only that, the way they talk about his dead is not very nice. It’s almost like they are making fun about someone who died.

This is not all. The nephew, Thomas McGreggor, so happens to be a very nice, amiable and hard working fellow. He is a young man with a dream who has no idea his uncle left him his farm. He sets out to fix the farm to sell it and use the money to open up a toy store because he likes making people happy helping them find what they want or need. Real noble, if you ask me.

The problem starts when he gets to his farm and he finds it vandalized by the wild life. The way this is presented basically tells us that Peter Rabbit and Co. have no respect for other’s property. I was ok when they stole from the garden, they need to eat, after all and they are rabbits, but to enter the house and destroy it? 

If that weren’t enough, once young McGreggor gets there, they want to kick him out because he won’t let them vandalize the property anymore? No wonder the young man wanted to get rid of the rodents! I would have, too! And trust me, that wouldn’t make me into an evil person with evil thoughts who needed to be destroyed.

Then Thomas meets Beatrix Potter, they fall in love and the bunnies try to kill (yes, literally kill) him because Peter Rabbit decides he doesn’t like him because he is jealous. I, too, have a deadly allergy to something and you don’t give this food to someone to get rid of him. That is worse than just all the bulying that just happened. Not only that, the bunnies seem to be glad the allergic reaction worked.

Honestly, I understand the kind of comedy they tried to pull, but in this story the one who is supposed to be punished for being bad is not McGreggor, it’s Peter. I did not enjoy the rabbits hurting a good, hard working and nice man who had done nothing to deserve it. He had a right to want to get rid of them because they were vandalizing his home and hurting him for it and then he had a right to fall in love. 

I hated those bunnies. I did not want them to succeed and I don’t think children should be enjoying a movie where the hero is a bully.

cheers