The Velveteen Rabbit

It used to be that kids movies were pretty much all the same and watching them was tiresome at best. Having three kids I have seen way more than my fair share of talking animals, pets that play sports, and toys trying to save the day. However, over the last couple of years I have actually begun to enjoy kids movies again, as filmmakers seem to have considered in the fact that adults have to actually watch many of these movies. In fact, recently I have enjoyed many of the kids movies way more than anything else – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, UP, Bolt, Ice Age, and of course Shrek.

I found The Velveteen Rabbit in my local library and as soon as I saw that the movie had been directed by Michael Landon Jr. I knew that it would be worth watching. The movie, based on the classic 1922 children’s book by Margery Williams, is set in the early 1900′s and the story, although quite simple, is very sweet. Toby, a young boy, is sent by a rather loveless father to spend Christmas with his rich grandmother. Right away he told by his grandmother that he is a burden and that he is to be seen and heard only when summoned… it’s a pretty grim situation.

The Velveteen Rabbit comes to life

Having an inquisitive nature Toby begins to explore his grandmothers mansion and finds a dusty attic room filled with books and toys. And it’s there in the attic where he finds a box with a note from his dead mother; a gift she intended to give him before she died. He opens the box to find, yep you guessed it, a velveteen rabbit.

Shortly after finding the rabbit Toby begins to imagine a make believe world in which the toy animals in the attic come to life in a world where the grass is soft, the water is crystal clear, and the sky is the most beautiful shade of blue. During these scenes the movies shifts from live action to animation. What follows is a heartwarming tale of family and the need to love one another unconditionally.

The Velveteen Rabbit is the kind of movie a family should watch around Christmas as it’s good wholesome stuff; that and it’s set around Christmastime. But it’s more than that. It’s an old fashioned movie reminiscent of the movies I used to watch as a kid like Dot and the Kangaroo, The Phantom Toolbooth, and the like. There is no smutty humor, bad language, violence, or sexual content of any kind, not that you’d expect these in kids movies, although I have seen some stuff in modern kids movies that have more than shocked me.

One of the nicest movies I have watched in a while

Technically the movie is well filmed and the live action scenes look very nice indeed. However, the animation is a little behind the times and reminded me of animated movies made in the early 80′s instead of 2009. Saying that, I would say that the animation in no way detracts from the movie and if anything adds to the movies charm… the dated looking animation actually gave the movie character, which is so rare to find in this day of lifelike CGI and computer animation.

Call me old fashioned but I liked this movie, it’s one of the nicest movies I’ve watched in a while. It left me feeling warm and I know that my kids had not been exposed to anything negative or bad. Would I watch The Velveteen Rabbit again? Absolutely. In fact I will try and hunt down a copy before Christmas so that I can sit with the kids and watch it all over again.

Enjoy!
Chris