Film

Miss Potter

Kerry Meech 30/01/2007

Rating: 2/5

The arrival of Miss Potter in the cinemas will probably have been an over-looked event by many a cinema goer, over the past few weeks, with many punters opting instead to see the new Will Smith flick or the long awaited Rocky Balboa. This is unfortunate, as for many, the books of Beatrix Potter formed an integral part of their childhood, personally the tales of talking rabbits and naughty ducks left me hooked (and slightly scared) of the tiny books.

There is always a danger when it comes to portraying the life of those figures many of us have grown to develop a personal attachment to, unfortunately for Miss Potter it falls foul to this; depicting her life with all the whimsicalness of her stories. Even when the film attempts to depict her struggles to be taken seriously as a writer, by both her mother and publishers, the latter appointing their younger, inexperienced brother (Ewan McGregor)to publish her books, there is still no real sense that she is actually struggling; this is in part due to the presence of Zellweger who troubles much of the film with her twee depiction of Potter as Bridget Jones in period costume. Even McGregor performance fails to save the film, this is a real shame as Potters own personal story is one which deserves to be told in all its tragic glory, rather than being watered down in order to make more room for more scenes of Zellweger conversing with animated rabbit watercolours.