Peter Rabbit: A Comparison of The Storybook vs Movie Adaptation

Name : Novita Rahmadhani Wingtyas

Course : Literature and Film
Lecturer : Donny Eros, S.S., M.A.

As we already knew, The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a children’s literature written and
illustrated by an English author, Beatrix Potter. It tells the story of a rabbit family.
The main protagonist is a young and full of curiosity male rabbit, Peter. He lives
under a fir tree with his mother, and younger sisters: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail.
They are allowed to roam everywhere–except for a nearby garden, which belongs to
an old grumpy man, who serves as the antagonist, Mr. McGregor. As you’d expect, he
disobeys his mother’s words. Things tend to become chaotic once Peter break inside
Mr. McGregor’s garden. In short, Peter managed to slip underneath the gate even
though it costs him his jacket and shoes. The storybook ends with Peter’s sisters
having a supper while Peter, completely exhausted, unwittingly flopped down the
floor and shut his eyes.

On the other hand, the second movie adaptation of Peter Rabbit (2018), tries to relive
the story of a curious rabbit called Peter. The movie adaptation didn’t start with the
introduction of Peter and his family. The opening sequence started with 3
hummingbirds, sang a song. At first, I doubted whether it’s a musical or not. Turns
out that its not. After the opening sequence of birds singing, we get to encountered a
rabbit family. Of course we already guessed away the characters: Peter, his sisters,
and mother.

Slightly different, this version introduced us to a character that perhaps only

mentioned in the storybook version that I read. Benjamin Bunny. The storybook did
mention Benjamin as Peter’s cousin, who told him things about cats. The mother (and
Peter’s father) are absent. They’re present in a form of wall painting. His father died
while entering Mr. McGregor’s garden. The movie didn’t mention the reason of his
mother’s death, and perhaps it will be explain in the sequel (I haven’t watch it).
Peter’s sisters characters are explored in the movie adaptation. We can see that
they’re triplets. Cottontail became sort of empowered female rabbit, or badass for
short, while Flopsy and Mopsy love to argue and stated that one of them is the oldest
and vice versa. Benjamin is more like a sidekick for Peter because he–most of the
time–sticks whatever, whenever, wherever Peter up to.

We also encountered the human character other than Mr. McGregor. There are Bea
(or Beatrix Potter), an aspiring painter whom Peter and his family see as a mother
figure, and Thomas McGregor, Mr. McGregor estranged great nephew. The riot starts
when Thomas, an ambitious employee who worked for Harrods, inherited Mr.
McGregor’s house in English countryside. At first he decided to pay a visit to the
house and sell it so that he can open his own store. Then a meeting with the animals
led to his behavior to Peter and his family, whom he addressed as ‘rodents’.

In short, the storybook version is preferred amongst children than the movie
adaptation. The storybook really deserved as a kid-friendly while the movie,
addressed for a mature audience. The jokes that James Corden, the voice cast of Peter
Rabbit tried to make, aren’t generally funny but more like dark comedic. The movie
sounds pretty boring for children because there are lots of long conversation and the
curious male rabbit from the storybook became a portray of naughty-dark-comedic
rabbit. Less appropriate for audiences under the age of 13.

The moral of the storybook, ties in with children’s behavior: to listen and obey their
parents also not to cross the borders. While in the movie, it is unclear when it
involved the ‘parent’ thing. In a scene where Peter realized his mistakes, Mopsy
narrated that ‘its not that kind (wise parent and moralistic) of movie’ All that we
learned is that family sometimes have to sacrifice and torn all the hatred. Its okay to
disagree sometimes, but it’s a must thing to realize that we live amongst differences
and shall be tolerant about it. It also teaches us not to be scared to admit our mistakes
and make amends (or might be shape us to develop a forgiving trait).

The aspect that I love about the 2018 movie adaptation is the visual. It applies a
lighter tone compared to another lifelike or live action animal movies, such as
Paddington and Garfield. For animal-related movies I love to see a lighter tone or cool
color gradings because its more convincing and oftentimes really put me in a state of
mind that those animals can really talk in human language. Or simply ‘how fun and
entertaining a talking animal can be’. Moreover, warm tone usually used to emphasize
our visual. Its commonly found in fantasy or romance movies, and its aesthetically
pleasing our eyes.

I also enjoyed the fact that they kept Peter’s jacket original color. The triplets in the
storybook all wear pink dresses while in the movie, we can see the color differences.
Its good to make amends with the triplets which one is which from the olden
storybook version. Cottontail wore a colored dress, Mopsy and Flopsy respectively
wore a mustard and red dress.

In other version of Peter Rabbit storybook, they updated the color coordinated clothes
of the rabbits (including Benjamin who sticks with his brown sweater). However, I
made a comparison between the storybook verison sent by Pak Eros and the 2018
movie adaptation.

Also, the storybook only focused with Peter and his family while the movie
adaptation also involved other animals such as the pig, wolf, and others. The
characters are diverse and broaden in the movie but lacking a plot while the storybook
version’s plot is more solid.

Both of it has its own pros and cons and if I had to pick one, as a grown up, I’d rather
watch the movie adaptation rather than reading the kid-friendly storybook. But of
course I had to read the storybook to identify the details and miss.

Short length films can’t elaborate all details, aspects, and point of views as much as
literature because it depends on running time while literature is infinite when it comes
to running time. You can read as long as you want while other reader might finish it
quicker.