The New Adventures of Peter Rabbit (or just Peter Rabbit, or alternatively The New Adventures of Reggie Rabbit) is a 1995 Animated Adaptation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, made by Golden Films. The titular rabbit (voiced by Cam Clarke) is a Compulsive Liar, who seemingly gets his four sisters accidentally mailed to Zanzibar, so he and his cousin Benny (Jeff Bennett) embark on a quest to save Peter’s sisters, picking up a lot of companions along the way, and running into a few antagonists (likewise from Potter’s books).
Like most of Golden Films outputs, it’s a fairly loose adaptation and decidedly more lighthearted and comedic than its source material, and has less-than-stellar animation.
The film has examples of:
- Adaptational Dumbass: Most of the characters suffer this to some extent but none more so than Mr. Tod, who goes from a classic cunning fox to basically a Looney Tunes villain, with Peter easily saving Benny from the fox’s clutches by claiming that he’s the “rabbit inspector” and that Benny is over the weight limit for consumption, which Mr. Tod buys without question.
- Adaptational Heroism: Mr. McGregor is far nicer than his book counterpart and is given a much friendlier design. As a matter of fact, when he finds Peter’s sisters hiding in his mailbox, he lets them out and simply warns them to avoid his mean cat, and outright says that he doesn’t like rabbit stew.
- Adaptational Species Change: For whatever reason, Tommy Brock is changed from a Bad Ol' Badger into a grouchy hedgehog in this movie, making it rather odd that he’s treated like some kind of threat to the protagonists.
- Ambiguous Situation: Given the movie’s short runtime and large cast, many of Peter’s travel companions are underdeveloped as characters and aren’t given a very clear reason for joining him. This is most notable with Trevor T. Tittlemouse, the first of the travel buddies to be introduced, who talks and acts like a Con Man and keeps telling Blatant Lies, as if he’s trying to bamboozle Peter and Benny, but he does nothing of the sort throughout the movie and just joins up with them despite gaining nothing from it.
- Big Bad Ensemble: McGregor’s cat, Tommy Brock, and Mr. Tod all appear as antagonists at different points in the movie, and at the end, they team up to get payback on Peter by catching all his friends in a Bag of Kidnapping, though they get easily defeated via comedic hijinks once Peter frees the others.
- Canon Foreigner: Hopsy, Fluff, Perky, and the chipmunk are all inventions of the movie. The squirrel and Trevor seem to be loosely based on Nutkin and Mrs. Tittlemouse.
- Con Man: Trevor T. Tittlemouse is an odd example, as he talks and acts like one, pretends to know more than he does or just says Blatant Lies, including a Running Gag where he keeps changing his alleged profession. But he never actually tries to con anyone and ultimately just ends up being the Motor Mouth of the group.
- Disproportionate Retribution: For eating a few berries from his large berry bush and breaking a branch or two, Tommy Brock insists that Benny must pay him back by being recruited into slave labor for several years. Though it’s mainly Played for Laughs.
- A Dog Named "Cat": Due to making Tommy Brock a hedgehog, but retaining his (admittedly archaic) Species Surname.
- Furry Confusion: Perky the kitten can talk English but McGregor’s adult tomcat only meows. It ventures into Carnivore Confusion when the villains state that they will eat Peter’s friends, which includes Perky.
- Gender Bender: Trevor T. Tittlemouse, who seems to be named after the title character of The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse.
- No Name Given: In-universe example with the squirrel and chipmunk character, as at the end, Peter introduces them to his mother as “the squirrel” and “chipmunk”. Especially weird with the former, since there is a well-known squirrel character from the original books called Nutkin. McGregor’s cat is also never given a proper name (even his owner never refers to him by name).
- Pinocchio Nose: Peter’s left ear tends to fall down whenever he fibs, which happens a lot.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: As to be expected from Golden Films, the film is entirely scored with classical music, regardless of how well it fits a scene.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Despite the otherwise lighthearted tone, Benny’s initial encounter with Mr. Tod has some rather dark humor.
- Firstly, the fox brings up having had Jemima Puddle-Duck and her family over for dinner a month prior (with no mentioned interruption from the farm dogs).
- But then, when Benny asks what’s for dinner, Mr. Todd says “baked rabbit”. Not getting the memo, Benny responds with, “I’ve never had it but I try to keep an open mind when it comes to food. I’ll try anything once.”
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Perky, the kitten who is the last character to join Peter’s Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, speaks with… some kind of accent and claims to come from a faraway country, with Zanzibar apparently being on the way towards it.
