Peter Rabbit (PG)

Has it come to this? The desecration of a literary

classic? Or perhaps a much needed modern twist?

Beatrix Potter would surely be startled.

It’s actually… not terrible? If you can stomach James

Corden being, well, James Corden, and his version of

Peter having a supposed tearaway charm founded on

deception, theft, greed and a seemingly pathological

anti-human bloodlust. At the start of the film, Peter

tries to insert a carrot into the exposed gluteal

cleft of Mr McGregor (poor Sam Neill) while the

elderly gardener is tending to his vegetable patch.

A jape which ends with McGregor dying of a heart

attack. Domhnall Gleeson (giving it 110 percent) is

Farmer McGregor’s nephew and heir, who has been

working in Harrods but is continually passed over for

promotion. He hates the countryside but swoons at

the sight of Beatrix Potter or ‘Bea’ (Rose Byrne).

This makes Peter extremely jealous and sparks full-on

warfare, Peter Rabbit is deliberately abrasive and

uneven to the extreme. Its riotous approach won’t

appeal to anyone hoping to spend a few soothing

moments in the company of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and

Jemima Puddle-Duck, but its ballsy energy can be

rather enjoyable. An anti-Paddington, so to speak.

(research Jack Whiting) Come and see.