PG | 1h 28m | Drama, Biography, History | 2006
In “Shakespeare in Love” and “Finding Neverland,” filmmakers speculated about the creative processes behind two of the most famous pieces of English literature—“Romeo & Juliet” and “Peter Pan.” Before “Miss Potter” even starts, Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger in top neurotic-eccentric form) has already finished her most famous work (“The Tale of Peter Rabbit”) and is trying to sell it to a publisher of children’s books, F. Warne & Co.
No Rush
Within the film’s next 15 minutes, the book is released, sells scads of copies, and Potter and Norman fall in love. It usually takes the entire length of a movie for events this momentous to transpire, and we get the uneasy feeling director Chris Noonan (“Babe”) and rookie screenwriter Richard Maltby, Jr. might be rushing things. First impressions can often be so wrong.
Shakespeare and J.M. Barrie only had to deal with writer’s block. Potter had much bigger hurdles. She had to convince her snooty parents she had the wherewithal to be a successful writer and that she had her own mind when it came to matters of the heart.
Animated Sequences
As director Marc Forster did so well in “Finding Neverland,” Mr. Noonan gets inside the author’s head; he presents brilliant passages where live action is mixed with fantastical dream sequences that include animation. The segments practically jump off the screen; they'll remind many of the animation seen in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”For those of us unaware: Potter also did the artwork for all of her books. This was equally, if not more important, than the text itself, and was something she made sure was never compromised.
Trailblazing Merchandiser
The second half of the film takes what is already filled with intrigue and high dramatic tension and establishes Potter as a person who far exceeded her professional aspirations. She became one of the early female artists to increase the visibility of her creations through retail character merchandising. The first example of this was the 1903 debut of a Peter Rabbit doll.Although markedly opposite in content and tone, “Down with Love” (2003) offers further reason why the chemistry between Ms. Zellweger and Mr. McGregor here is so natural and effortless. It’s a romantic comedy modeled after the feather-light Doris Day-Rock Hudson flicks, “Pillow Talk,” “Lover Come Back,” and “Send Me No Flowers.”
Philanthropy
Like many current-day philanthropists, Potter used her celebrity, high profile, and considerable wealth to protect what was near and dear to her heart. Those of us who knew nothing about her going in will walk away feeling as if we’ve just seen the biography of one of the most vital, steadfast, and unselfish persons to ever grace the Earth.
What Potter’s works have done, and will do for as long as children can crack open a book, is immeasurable. What happened to her in her personal life and how she coped with it, and more importantly, what she did to better humanity is beyond what most of us could fathom.
If you’re interested in finding out more about this amazing person, check out the 1993 documentary “Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller, and Countrywoman.” Narrated by Lynn Redgrave, it is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
