What's So Loveable About Peter Rabbit?

Peter Rabbit has become one of the sweetest characters to grace the silver screen in recent years. He is cute, he is likeable and he very funny. He is the perfect children’s character. Now with his second feature film arriving on DVD and Blu-ray shortly it's time to explore what makes the character so damn loveable. So today I am going to discuss exactly that. 

It is a rule that needs to be followed with any talking animal film, the actors voicing the animals need to be likeable, because if they are not then the movie is going to fall flat on its face. Luckily Peter Rabbit did a fantastic job with its casting. Peter Rabbit is voiced by late-night talk show host, James Cordon. Cordon has made a living by being charismatic and likeable. He brings that charisma to the table here, which elevates the character and makes him quite charming. 

The design of Peter Rabbit is also quite adorable, he looks soft and cuddly and something you just want to pick up and squeeze. The CGI whilst not believable is fun and serves its purpose quite well. I have never been a big fan of blending live-action with full CGI characters, however, in Peter Rabbit it just works. The characters charm and sense of humour elevate this design as well. If it was just a CGI rabbit without Cordon’s sense of humour and wit, then the character would lose all likeability and charm. However, blending Cordon’s humour with the design of the character makes him feel unique and different from other talking animal films. 

The character has a lot of history as well, being featured in children’s literature for over fifty years. Part of the charm of the characters in the recent films is dueto the characters adaptability to the modern era. Bringing a character like Peter Rabbit to the 2020s could be quite difficult, however, the creative team behind the films knew exactly how far to push the character in the modern setting without it feeling forced and without it sacrificing the charm of Peter Rabbit. It would be so easy to make a ‘Smurfs’ time film, bringing the character out of the books and into modern-day New York, but instead director Will Gluck goes for a different approach incorporating Peter Rabbit into our world as if it were his own as well. This makes the character feel more grounded and real, more so than others in the genre.

Peter Rabbit has cemented himself as a pop culture icon but has also established himself with a new audience. The character already has a built-in fan base, but the two most recent films have also established a young audience as well. Blending the young with the old, there is something for everyone to enjoy and I think that’s part of the reason that Peter Rabbit has remained a children’s icon for such a long time.

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here