Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie

I had taped this movie when it premiered on TV on CBC (on Easter Sunday, of course), and I was quite surprised with the excellent CGI animation that was put into it. I also like the casting. I love the talents of Tom Kenny as both Cottontail and Cottontail Jr., and Antoine the French caterpillar, which is weird because he was supposed to be a butterfly after the original, and Roger Moore as Irontail. I also love the kaleidoscope of colours as put into the main title sequence, and in the "I'm Ready" musical sequence, that was excellent stuff.

All of the above aside, I find this film an enjoyable sequel to the original Rankin/Bass special; I love the animation from Rankin/Bass, you know.

Crisp, clean and colourful CGI movie. Two ice-cold evil-doers from the north pole, and their army of cute little penguins, steal clock parts from Peter Cottontail's village in the hope of covering the world in ice. Peter and two of his trusted friends (a little bird and a mouse), with the help of other friends they make along the way, save the day! The evil and vain Irontail (voiced by Roger Moore) and his dastardly partner in crime Jackie Frost (voiced by Molly Shannon) must face Peter and his friends' perseverance in a classic good versus evil battle in the snow. Good, clean and easy to understand feature. Cute characters, sweet movie for the very young.

I grabbed this on impulse at the checkout stand of my local grocery store for my children (3 and 1.5 yrs old). I was pleasantly surprised that it is a cute movie. It has many traits that remind me of older children's' movies that came out in the 60's, 70's and 80's which I grew up with. Such as it has frequent, impromptu songs sung by the characters (like many of the old clay-mation Rankin Bass TV specials on which the movie is loosely based) where they dance around. Also, the plot is simple and straightforward which is easy for small children to understand. There are many lively characters that get introduced along the way and the animation is good. My children love it and are watching it over and over. I think it's refreshing to see the older style of children's movies in this movie. More modern children's movies try and contain more mature content (jokes meant only for the parents to get) and I'm not entirely in favor of that. Overall a cute movie I would recommend to other parents of small children.

This move is such a poor follow up to the classic by Rankin Bass. The look, voices and feel is so off in this movie it would have been much better if they made an independent Easter story. It does not explain the affiliation of the two Easter specials. It does not provide enough information for you to enjoy the return charters in full and the stories behind them, which only those who have seen the original classic could appreciate. Irontail is the only charter that is somewhat close to the original in looks but not at all in personality or voice. The feel of "holiday" and "Easter" is absent from the overall storytelling and art direction. The animation feels like a 2005 video game and the music sounds like any other modern Saturday morning cartoon, not at all appropriate for a holiday special. The talents of Christopher Lloyd and Roger Moore is clear but would have been much better in an original Easter story.

I remember my sister and I loving this movie as kids, we'd watch it over and over again. I decided to show it to my younger brother for Easter after not seeing it for years. I will admit, the animation is a lot uglier than I remember haha. But it was made in 2005. Honestly tho, the story is good. It held my little brothers attention, it has some humor that I can enjoy. The voice acting is decent, and don't get me started on the music. Super catchy and not at all cliché or cringey. I honestly wish they'd remake the movie with better animation, and keep the songs and voice acting the same. It's been a while since I've seen the original so this is an unbiased review in comparison, but we're gonna give that a watch next (: