Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021) Columbia/Comedy-Adventure RT: 93 minutes Rated PG (some rude humor and action) Director: Will Gluck Screenplay: Will Gluck and Patrick Burleigh Music: Dominic Lewis Cinematography: Peter Menzies Jr. Release date: June 11, 2021 (US) Cast: Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, David Oyelowo, James Corden, Colin Moody, Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Aimee Horne, Lennie James, Hayley Atwell, Damon Herriman, Rupert Degas, Sia, Sam Neill, Ewen Leslie, David Wenham. Box Office: $40.5M (US)/$154M (World)
Rating: **
The good news is Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway is no worse than the first one. The bad news is it’s no better either. This, of course, is from the perspective of an adult. Kids who loved the first Peter Rabbit will beg to differ. They’ll be tickled pink by the continuing adventures of the bad bunny and his mixed family (animals and humans). They sure were laughing it up at the Saturday afternoon showing I attended. I was the only one there without a kid or kids. I’m sure I got some funny stares from parents and I don’t blame them. What grown person in their right mind sees a movie like Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway on their own? Believe me, I questioned my own state of mind more than once as I forfeited 93 minutes of my life, 115 if you count previews.
If you saw the first Peter Rabbit movie three years ago, you know it doesn’t exactly follow the original stories as conceived by Beatrix Potter. The gentle tale of mischievous Peter was turned into a crass, rude, sometimes cruel comedy marked by painful physical comedy and general obnoxiousness on its title character’s part. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway is more of the same except for Peter setting his sights higher than Mr. McGregor’s garden. He and some new companions plan to heist a farmer’s market for all its dried fruit.
Once again, Peter (voiced by talk show host Corden) is at odds with Thomas McGregor (Gleeson, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) over his behavior. Recently married to the rabbits’ caretaker Bea (Byrne, X-Men: First Class), McGregor always seems to catch Peter at his worst. It doesn’t help that Bea’s best-selling book about his leporid family portrays him as the naughty one. It only gets worse when a major publisher shows interest in her work. Nigel Basil-Jones (Oyelowo, Selma) wants to publish her books worldwide. Of course, she’ll have to make some changes first. In an all too familiar scenario, he wants to turn her sweet, gentle stories into something more commercial. One of his ideas is sending the rabbits into outer space.
Nigel’s marketing plan involves portraying Peter as a “bad seed”, a notion that so offends the naughty little bunny, he decides to live up to his literary reputation in real life. While walking through town alone, he meets Barnabas (James, The Walking Dead), an older rabbit who knew his father way back when. He introduces Peter to his crew- mouse Samuel Whiskers (Degas) and feline siblings Tom Kitten (Herriman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Mittens (Atwell, Agent Peggy Carter in the MCU)- and a life of crime. In turn, Peter gets his brood- sisters Flopsy (Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Mopsy (Debicki, Tenet), Cottontail (Horne) and cousin Benjamin (Moody)- involved in the heist along with several friends from the farm. It ends in betrayal and Peter having to set things right again.
I’ll give director Will Gluck (Easy A) credit for keeping Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway hopping throughout. It’s a lively, colorful affair with good CGI that seamlessly blends with the live-action actors and beautiful English locations. Its other good point is Byrne whose natural grace and beauty is a nice counterpoint to the idiocy displayed by the other human characters. In Gleeson’s defense, he seems to be a good sport about playing second carrot to a computer-animated rabbit. The best thing about Oyelowo’s performance is his character’s very British name. With a name like that, he could be the newest member of Spinal Tap if he played an instrument.
At the same time, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway feels like it’s trying too hard to recreate the whimsy and zaniness of its predecessor while simultaneously taking it to the next level with new characters, higher stakes and the whole dried fruit heist thing. In other words, it’s business as usual for a sequel. Let’s call Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway what it is, a cash-grab movie designed to stimulate the little ones in the same way as Cottontail when she discovers jellybeans. Adults will cringe at jokes like Mopsy changing her name to “Lavatory” to be different from twin sister Flopsy. The humor is aimed directly at the lower grade school crowd which makes perfect sense since no kid past the third grade would be caught dead at a movie like this.
What else can I say about Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway other than it contains the usual lessons about family loyalty, the pitfalls of naughty behavior and not selling out? That last one leads to the movie’s only funny line; one of the rabbits remarks that Bea’s books will probably be adapted into “a sassy hipfest for commercial gain, probably by an American.” Truer words have never been spoken. I promise you the real Beatrix Potter is spinning in her grave again with this entirely unnecessary but inevitable sequel. Heed my advice, if you don’t have kids, DON’T BOTHER! If you do, steel yourself for 93 minutes of forced smiling.
