Based on the
real life of Beatrix Potter, Renee Zellweger stars as the beloved
British
children’s author (Talk about economizing!
She gets a chance to show off her dialect training
in the THIRD movie
where she plays a Brit. You
would think
she is Madonna or Gwyneth Paltrow with all of the Anglophile leanings). Beatrix is an oddity in
turn of the century London as a
32-year old
single lady who works as a greeting card artist, but yearns to bring
her
special characters to life in a children’s book. In an attempt to find a
home for this Peter
Rabbit she has created, Beatrix goes to every possible publishing house
until the
Warne Brothers decide to pick up the project and give it to their
bumbling,
inexperienced brother, Norman (Ewan McGregor), just to shut him up. Of course, Norman and
Beatrix are ready to
work extra hard to show those two what they can accomplish, and show
them they
do.
Will Peter
Rabbit be successful? (Yes, obviously, I know it will be a success, but
this is
the part where I pose a big question about the movie, and
that’s the best I can
come up with)
Miss
Potter has
an infectious, light hearted feel to it that will keep you smiling
throughout
most of the movie, until it turns into every biopic you have seen
before. Early on,
director Chris Noonan and writer
Richard Maltby, Jr. make Miss
Potter cute and fun as we see Beatrix and Norman
form a special relationship full of witty dialogue and a growing mutual
respect
for each other. It’s
the nicest, purest
and most heartwarming relationship you have seen in a movie this year. Plus, we get to
watch Beatrix become a
bigger part of the Warne family when she forms a friendship with Norman’s
sister, Millie
(Emily Watson), who, like Beatrix, is an unmarried thirtysomething just
tickled
pink to have someone to talk to about it all.
Also, early on,
Miss
Potter is a great story about overcoming the odds and
convention. Even
Beatrix’s own mother doesn’t quite
believe she is going to be a success, and the best part of watching
Zellweger’s
performance is the joy and sense of accomplishment we see in Beatrix as
the
movie develops. Quite
similarly, Norman’s
brothers put up
with him instead of encouraging and fostering his interest in the
business, so
we get to see McGregor showing us the character’s pluck,
determination and
personal interest in Beatrix. It’s
a
thrill to see them doing what it takes to make Peter Rabbit the book we
know it
as today.
However, Miss
Potter falls into cliché as a major event
changes Beatrix’s life, and the movie
goes off on a tangent as the movie focuses on her later years as a
conservationist and anti-development fighter.
This turn removes the warmth, cuteness and
lovableness of Miss
Potter,
and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Maybe the producers had to promise to show this part
of her life to get
the rights to the story, but they should have expanded the portions
about her
early career and did the conservation stuff in one scene, or as a nice
prologue
at the end.
2 ½
Waffles (Out
Of 4)
Miss
Potter is rated PG for brief mild
language.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com
