HOP TO IT!
A toddler loves his first look at the big screen
THERE was a moment, before the 10 a.m. screening of “Peter Rabbit” started, when I wondered if my husband and I had been right to bundle up our 2 ½-yearold on a frigid morning and bring him to the movies. He was propped up on a booster seat, eating popcorn for breakfast, and wiggled around so much he got caught in the retractable chair. Was he too young to go to the movies?
Then, the lights came down. “Whoa,” he said.
For the next 95 minutes, my son had the inimitable experience of sitting in the dark with strangers, and watching a whole world come to life. That morning, he learned what many of us already know: The small screen just isn’t the same.
He sat riveted, watching the “crazy rabbits” — his words — steal vegetables, set booby traps and throw wild (farm)house parties. Beatrix Potter’s bunnies these are not. Instead, Peter (James Corden) and his triplet sisters Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail (Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Daisy Ridley, respectively) are like fast-talking Gen Z teens with their own YouTube channel.
Still, Potter’s legacy remains, in the form of a kind neighbor named Bea (Rose Byrne) who draws lovely, Potteresque renderings of her animal friends. Unfortunately, she prefers to paint abstract pieces that everyone in the movie agrees are terrible.
Every once in a while, I looked over in the dark and saw my son smiling. He didn’t get all the jokes — a running rake-in-the-face gag didn’t impress him. But the silly, talking rabbits were enough.
My son, like this updated version of Potter’s Peter, is a bit of a rascal: He’s got the same glint in his eyes, and has already perfected the art of the mischievous smile. He loved Peter, who walked a thin line between endearing and annoying (much like a toddler).
During the final act, which brought about Peter’s comeuppance and subsequent redemption, my son crawled into my lap. A 2-year-old won’t understand the nuances of the naughty rabbit’s life lesson, but he can surely appreciate the sweet gesture of touching foreheads to reconcile after a disagreement.
As the credits rolled, the older kids left the theater, but my little guy asked to stay until the very end. He wanted to see the lights come up, and even then he wasn’t ready to move.
Maybe there is a future for movie theaters, if my toddler is any indication.
“Again?” he said.