The twee romance was too much for me.
Miss Potter (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:120
Fresh:79
Rotten:41
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: A charming biopic with that maintains its sweetness even in sadder moments.
Theatrical Release:05-01-2007
Synopsis: Beatrix Potter has delighted generations of children with her books. But she kept her own private life locked carefully away. Oscar-winning star Renee Zellweger is now bringing her secret story to... Beatrix Potter has delighted generations of children with her books. But she kept her own private life locked carefully away. Oscar-winning star Renee Zellweger is now bringing her secret story to the screen in "Miss Potter," the first film directed by Chris Noonan since his charming 1995 movie, Babe. It is set in the high summer days of late Victorian and Edwardian England, during which Beatrix develops her natural skills as artist and story-teller. When she finally publishes her debut book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she becomes a writing celebrity. It also leads to courtship and her first love with publisher Norman Warne, played by Ewan McGregor. Their relationship and his marriage proposal in July, 1905, was to change Beatrix's life for ever. It was a love which she could not announce - or even talk about. In high-society London, her parents had insisted she keep it from friends and neighbours. They considered her proposed wedding a mismatch. Warne, they said, was from ‘trade' and demanded that she carefully reconsider their life together. Beatrix allowed herself to be persuaded to leave her fiancé and London. It was supposed to be a time for reflection and calm. But, instead, she faced tragedy and loneliness and returned, with a different outlook. She became a woman of strong views and independence. She also built up a farming dynasty in the Lake District - a dynasty over which she took charge long after her writing career virtually ended in 1913. It established her as a woman ahead of her time. Despite becoming the world's most successful children's writer and a wealthy landowner and prize-winning farmer, she never forgot her first love. -- © Weinstein Co. [More]
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Emily Watson, Ewan McGregor, Lloyd Owen
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Emily Watson, Ewan McGregor, Lloyd Owen
Director: Chris Noonan
Director: Chris Noonan
Producer: Mike Medavoy, David Thwaites, Arnold Messer, Corey Sienega
Composer: Nigel Westlake
Studio: Weinstein Company
Reviews for Miss Potter
Mostly, though, Miss Potter turns the solemn comedy of her books and illustrations into mere whimsy, animating Jemima Puddle-duck into cartoon life whenever Beatrix talks to her.
This film is the cinematic equivalent of a delicate English tea cake whose substance is buried under too many layers of icing.
Labors mightily to present world-famous children's author Beatrix Potter as a preternaturally free spirit.
Zellweger gives what can best be called a pleasant performance. And 'pleasant' is probably the best way to describe Potter's books.
Succeeds on its performances, its sunny re-creation of London from 100 years ago and a winsome tone than matches Zellweger's scrunchy face.
Miss Potter vividly paints the picture of an inspirational woman who created lovely childhood memories of bedtime stories...
Has an infectious, light hearted feel to it that will keep you smiling throughout most of the movie, until it turns into every biopic you have seen before.
Although Zellweger strains a bit too hard at being eccentric, [Ewan] McGregor is entrancingly valorous playing opposite her.
Ultimately, we're won over by Beatrix's story. Hers was, as Richard Griffiths says of Thomas Hardy in The History Boys, 'a saddish life, but not an unappreciated one.' Even more appreciated now, thanks to this honest, unassuming little film.
A bit paint-by-numbers, not to torture a pun out of all this, but when the story of Beatrix Potter, spinster book author and happenstance feminist, eventually does take shape, it is an emotionally and even politically potent story.
The film's spirit isn't terribly playful, and any real conflict is buried deeper than Peter Rabbit's carrots.
Rather like its subject's books--pretty to look at, sweet without being syrupy and cute without being cloying, but rather thin.
About halfway through the film, however, it becomes obvious that Miss Potter is lacking a key element of good drama: conflict.
Criticizing such a gentle film too vigorously would be like giving Peter Rabbit or Tom Kitten a swift kick in the nose.
It is a lovely film for the holiday season, as well as afterward, and is reminiscent of Finding Neverland, without the darker undercurrents. Zellweger does a fine job of fleshing out the plucky character despite the occasional simper.
The love story is beautifully constructed. There's some sentimentality here, but [director Chris] Noonan is careful not to take it too far and to avoid overplaying the audience's emotional chords.
Take the trouble to find this film. It's worth it, if only to reacquaint oneself with the magic that flowed from the pen of Beatrix Potter, or to once again experience the easy rapport between Zellweger and McGregor.
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