First Take: Peter Rabbit 2- welcome back to the big screen experience

SYNOPSIS: Thomas and Bea are now married and living with Peter and his rabbit family. Bored of life in the garden, Peter goes to the big city, where he meets shady characters and ends up creating chaos for the whole family.

Deep breath folks. Popcorn is in the air, foyers are being vigorously scrubbed down, general managers are back in the office, and recliners have been prepared: at long last, cinemas are back open in line with step 3 of England’s roadmap. And unlike last time, a high concept espionage film is not the one to lead the charge - instead, a film with one of Britain’s most beloved characters has the honour of kicking things off. In 2018, Will Gluck’s live action take on Beatrix Potter’s most famous creation won over families across the world, and now it finally has a sequel following a full year of delays. Has it been worth the wait? For some audiences, yes. But for a lot of casual cinemagoers… yeah, there’s some issues.

Gluck is on writer/director duties once again as he co-writes the script with Patrick Burleigh, and with a runtime of 93 minutes, there is a lot of potential with the story, but it just feels too clunky for a family film- blending elements of the heist genre with the tried and tested conventions of a kids movie, something which isn’t helped by the overall pacing. Sometimes it works, namely the final act, other times it doesn’t. On cinematography duties is Peter Menzies Jr, and returning to score the film is Dominic Lewis, who does a passable job.

Leading the live action cast like last time is Rose Byrne and Domnhall Gleeson, who once again do a great job bringing this film to life considering the amount of CG characters in this film - voiced by Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Sia alongside new cast members Lennie James and Hayley Atwell- but this is of course James Corden’s vehicle. Might explain how self referential this film becomes- ripping into the commercial side of these characters during a film about a beloved British great is not a great idea at the best of times. 

THE VERDICT

It may be called The Runaway in some territories, but at times, this film feels far from a runaway. Following up the 2018 original was no mean feat, and unfortunately that’s where this film struggles- as a standalone, it would work, but not as a sequel.

RATING: 3.5/5