It's 1902 and Beatrix Potter is being stifled by her social-ladder-climbing parents. Always a teller and writer of stories, Beatrix breaks free from her suffocation and takes her tale of Peter Rabbit to the Warne publishers. Where she is pleasantly surprised to find a deal offered and young Norman Warne assigned personally to aid her in her first publishing venture. But as the pair start to fall in love, and the book takes off, the pressure from home threatens to derail her chance of happiness.
Before it was even released, Miss Potter was being tagged Oscar Bait by lazy and uninformed movie fans. It seems that any film that falls into this ilk, is considered to be folly and destined to be rubbish. Why that is I don't know, since film's like Miss Potter, Seabiscuit, Cinderella Man and Finding Neverland are technically great movies that tell amazingly impacting stories. Amazingly impacting stories backed up by fine acting I might add. Things further hindered Miss Potter by those decrying the casting of Renée Zellweger in the title role, it was Bridget Jones madness all over again. Once again Zellwegger took up the challenge and proved it to be an inspired choice to put her into the prim and proper corset of our dear Beatrix. Then there was the historical inaccuracies argument {like it has stopped so many millions of film's in the past doing it!}, none of which are really worth listing. So finally the last big negative put forward to kick Miss Potter is the age old chestnut of it not being a fully formed bio-picture. Please, do me a favour. It's got a running time of 90 minutes and primarily focuses on the most telling time in her life.
What Miss Potter is guilty of is not affording more time to her wonderful artistic achievements. Director Chris Noonan {Babe} and writer Richard Maltby, Jr. choose to enforce the whimsy and romanticism rather than showcase what a unique talent she was. In fact Miss Potter for the most part makes Beatrix comes off as a kooky dreamer. Something she most probably was when she dived into her work. Thankfully tho, in the last quarter of the piece, Beatrix is shown to be the strong, ahead of her time, woman that she was. Her conservationism and blow striking from the gorgeous Lake District she called home, is given weight and rounds the film out nicely. Prior to this we are treated to a magical world where Beatrix's creations come to life on the page, only to her you understand, but the impact as she converses with the likes of Peter Rabbit is uplifting and keeps us focused on what great work she achieved in the world of children's books. Conversely, when things do go bleak, as most Potter fans know as regards her real life story, the animation sequences are brilliant at portraying Beatrix's emotional state. Great work from Noonan and his animation team. While a special mention for Andrew Dunn is due because his cinematography around the Lake District is truly sumptuous.
In support of Zellwegger {who was nominated for Golden Globe} is Ewan McGregor {delightful and believable} as love interest Norman Warne, Emily Watson {terrific} as Norman's sister Millie, an early feminist and confidante of Beatrix. While Bill Paterson and Barbara Flynn as the Potter parents involve and infuriate to the right levels of story enhancement. Yes it's charming, yes it's sweet, but Miss Potter is far more than just a movie made to please a certain demographic, or Oscar, as the silly people say. Expect a film about a period in her life and accept that at 90 minutes long it's never going to be a fully formed Beatrix Potter film. And you may just be as beguiled as I was. Not as classy as Finding Neverland, but a most worthy accompaniment to that picture it be. 8/10
