Miss Potter

MISS POTTER

Best Family Film, 2006 - 5 Stars

A Wonderful Story about a Wonderful Lady

Miss Potter is a delightful film about children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, played by Renee Zellweger. Beatrix decides she will not marry, and instead will pursue a career as an author and illustrator of children's books - a very bold and unusual thing in Victorian England in the late 1800's. She receives scant encouragement in her pursuit until the Warne brothers agree to publish her first book, The Tale Of Peter Rabbit, and assign it to their youngest brother, Norman, in the hope he will fail and thereby give up the idea of joining them in the family business. Played by Ewan McGregor (Star Wars, Moulin Rouge, Down With Love, Big Fish), Norman becomes enchanted with Miss Potter and her book, as does his sister, Millie, played by Emily Watson (Gosford Park, The Waterhorse). The three become great friends, and eventually Norman and Beatrix fall in love.

Meanwhile, Miss Potter's books are selling like hot cakes, and she eventually finds herself a very wealthy woman - much to the surprise of her mother, who has never understood her or her interest in art - and can now make her own way in the world - again, highly unusual for the time. She begins buying up estates in the Lake District of England - at first to settle there, but later to preserve the area as a farming district. Eventually, she donates 4,000 acres of the most prime real estate to the British people as a national trust. This is one of the most gorgeous films you will ever see, and a wonderful story about a wonderful lady. It is full of imagination, cleverness and childhood magic. Director Chris Noonan, writer Richard Maltby, Jr., and the entire production crew should be commended for creating a cinematic gem. Rated PG

Waitsel

Waitsel Smith, March 31, 2009

Text © 2009 Waitsel Smith. Photos © Weinstein Company. All Rights Reserved.