Rating (1.5 out of 5)
Peter Rabbit was on Netflix and is a 2018 movie, so I thought why the heck not watch it. Why do I keep doing this? I think it is important that I provide some context about children/kid movies. I love kid movies/shows. Ratatouille, Avatar the Last Airbender, some of my very favorites and movies I rewatch all the time. I wouldn’t pick Peter Rabbit for kids to watch, the rabbits and people are mean, violent and viscous.
Plot: Thomas McGregor (Domnhall Gleeson) inherits a house and garden in the country from his Uncle. He moves there from London and falls in love with his neighbor Bea (Rose Byrne). Bea loves the animals and Bea, Thomas and animals form a love triangle. Thomas and the rabbits go to war for Bea’s affection.
What I Liked: Thomas first moves into his house and he is cleaning the green house and unbeknownst to him, Bea and rabbits are watching him. As they watch, Bea makes a few comments, and they look at him puzzled by his actions, as pictured above. The scene was only one of a few of a pleasant and humorous nature in the movie.
What I Didn’t Like: I remember reading the tales of Peter Rabbit to my kids, and how the dark nature of the books surprised me, but the level of violence in Peter Rabbit was truly shocking. Home Alone contains similar violences but in Peter Rabbit case the violence committed by the rabbits and animals are offensive rather than defensive. There is a big distinction between defending your house against criminals versus attacking someone because you don’t agree with them.
While I am not fond of having to remove all nuts from cookies for the Christmas party because of people’s allergies I respect that people have allergies and they have significant adverse health reactions because of those allergies. To condone in any way, the shooting of an allergic food into someones mouth in an offensive maneuver is…well ….offensive.
Conclusion: I would definitely not allow kids to watch Peter Rabbit film. Stay with Pixar and Dreamworks cartoons. Peter Rabbit portrays of harsh violence as justifiable which is not what I think we want children to learn.