The original Peter Rabbit was a child rabbit, a disobedient scamp who ignored his mom’s advice and ventured into Mr. McGregor’s garden, then reaped the consequences. The trailer for the new movie adaptation of the book shows us a rabbit who is far too grown and knowing for these antics. He’s just a plain old jerk.
The film is a disorienting mix of animation and live-action confrontations with a sad, millenial Mr. McGregor. Though McGregor appears to have done nothing besides work hard at some sort of modern day job so he can afford his lovely home, Peter Rabbit has opened the doors to every animal in the countryside to clomp through, and you know they’re pooping everywhere. How dare you, you arrogant little twerp?!
Yet, it’s strangely unsurprising that the 2017 Peter Rabbit is an entitled, frat-boyish creep, with no regard for the comfort or boundaries of others. Art holds up a mirror to life, and this trailer is demanding we all look hard and deep. Peter Rabbit, you are AMERICA.
“This is only the beginning,” Peter Rabbit warns ominously, before braying jocularly at his own threat. The fact that he’s voiced by James Corden is perhaps endearing to Corden fans, but to those less inclined to see that as a selling point, it’s the perfect kicker to this Shrek-poisoned nightmare. I hope Peter Rabbit loses his jacket and shoes, and gets driven down the street Game of Thrones-style, as the woodland creatures howl, “SHAME!” at his bare ass. Someone should get their comeuppance, for once.