Parents' Guide to

Miss Potter

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

More about social pressure than Peter Rabbit.

Movie PG 2006 92 minutes
Miss Potter Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 9+

Based on 5 parent reviews

susanloeppky
susanloeppky Adult
December 2, 2018
age 12+

Miss Potter and friends

I love the movie, I have been to the Lake District, it is enchanting. I love Miss Potter and how she devoted her life to her furry friends and her beloved husband. I love how Rene Z plays the character of Miss Potter and how she can be both Miss Potter and Miss Jones and be totally believable in both roles, it shows how authentic she can be. The rest of the actors were brilliant especially her snobby mother and weak father who had no backbone. I love this movie.

This title has:

Great messages
Rarityfan
Rarityfan Adult
October 3, 2018
age 7+

It is not that lighthearted 2018 Peter Rabbit

Heavy on issues, but nice on acting and effects and lovely English backdrops. Not to be confused with Harry Potter even if it looks like the same classic English settings. A shame this movie drowned in the many family friendly blockbusters of 2006.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much violence
Too much consumerism
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Set in the early 1900s, MISS POTTER offers a fictionalized life of famous Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter as she pursues a career as a children's book author and illustrator. Beatrix's whimsical ducks in bonnets and bunnies in brass buttons (which appear as animations) represent her feelings -- most often mild defiance or frustration at her parents' hopes that she'll marry a man within their class. Eager to publish a storybook with gentle watercolor illustrations, Beatrix (Renée Zellweger) meets with publishers and is assigned to earnest underling Norman (Ewan McGregor). The two go on to create a series of books. Beatrix also befriends Norman's sister Amelia (Emily Watson). But while she enjoys her new relationships, she must contend with social expectations, as embodied by her generous, mustachioed father, Rupert (Bill Paterson), who tends to give in to the wishes of her sterner mother, Helen (Barbara Flynn).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5):
Kids say (3):

Pleasant and unadventurous, Miss Potter makes it clear that Beatrix became a conservationist in her later years, using her earnings to purchase land and preserve wildlife habitats. Yet the film tends to stifle its heroine's energy rather than explore it. In part, this effect is a function of Zellweger's chirpy performance, but it's also a matter of plot: Despite her seeming independence, Beatrix is shaped by supporting characters, from her oppressive mother to the kind solicitor (Lloyd Owen) who helps her recover from tragedy. You keep waiting for her to break out, to match the giddy passion shown by Amelia, but she doesn't.

McGregor's energetic delivery of dialogue is delightful. Miss Potter suggests that Norman is a good match for Beatrix, and their very proper flirtations are quite charming, as is Beatrix's enthusiastic intimacy with Amelia

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the conflict Beatrix feels between the expectations others have for her (to be a proper wife to a man of her class) and her own ambitions (writing and illustrating books). How is her dilemma shown in the movie? How do her parents respond differently to her decisions? How does her romance with Norman help "smooth over" the potential abrasiveness of her career ambitions? What effect (if any) do modern opinions about feminism and achievement have on the way the story is told?

Movie Details

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