Potter Biopic Doesn't Miss the Mark
August 20th 2008 03:48
One day, my daughter will be of an age that boys come a-knockin’. And, if she looks anything like her mother, the line will likely extend way out onto the street!
So I expect that will be about the time we have the love vs. lust talk. It’s not one I look forward to, to be honest. I’m the sort of father that wants my children to magically transform from gorgeous 6 year-olds, into married adulthood.
But in watching 2006’s Miss Potter, the moving tale of children’s author Beatrix Potter, I believe I have found the perfect solution. Show the movie, and watch her learn from one of the finest love stories I have seen in recent years.
So moving and uplifting is this picture, that after a couple of viewings, I look forward to complete compliance with my and her mother’s choices of suitors, curfew, and the insistence that one of her brothers is her constant chaperone.
Maybe we’ll need to show it a few more times…possibly weekly!
Whatever the case may be, Miss Potter has instantly found a place in my top 10 all time list, and is more than worth the price to add it to the movie collection. All this despite the Zellweger factor.
That’s right, despite the pouting, pursed lips, and squinting of one Renee Zellweger, clearly Hollywood’s most over-rated star, Miss Potter, through it’s superior story and marvelous script, pushes Ms Zellweger’s melodramatic, fatuous performance, into the stuffy English background.
Supported by outstanding ensemble performances from all, but most notably that of Ewan McGregor as Potter’s publisher-cum-love-interest, Miss Potter is a love story based on the traditions of a more restrained, and gentler time. There are no breathless kisses that resemble the annual Tony’s Hot Dog-eating contest, or holds that are not out of place on a reject tape of So You Think You Can Dance.
Nope, this story is made of sterner stuff than that, and shows the delightful tension and drama that can be built through pure love.
Yes, I love this story. It’s heart is as wide and open as the English countryside itself.
But two warnings are appropriate. Pack some Kleenex, and be prepared to love Renee Zellweger – even if it’s only for 92 minutes.
So I expect that will be about the time we have the love vs. lust talk. It’s not one I look forward to, to be honest. I’m the sort of father that wants my children to magically transform from gorgeous 6 year-olds, into married adulthood.
But in watching 2006’s Miss Potter, the moving tale of children’s author Beatrix Potter, I believe I have found the perfect solution. Show the movie, and watch her learn from one of the finest love stories I have seen in recent years.
So moving and uplifting is this picture, that after a couple of viewings, I look forward to complete compliance with my and her mother’s choices of suitors, curfew, and the insistence that one of her brothers is her constant chaperone.
Maybe we’ll need to show it a few more times…possibly weekly!
Whatever the case may be, Miss Potter has instantly found a place in my top 10 all time list, and is more than worth the price to add it to the movie collection. All this despite the Zellweger factor.
That’s right, despite the pouting, pursed lips, and squinting of one Renee Zellweger, clearly Hollywood’s most over-rated star, Miss Potter, through it’s superior story and marvelous script, pushes Ms Zellweger’s melodramatic, fatuous performance, into the stuffy English background.
Supported by outstanding ensemble performances from all, but most notably that of Ewan McGregor as Potter’s publisher-cum-love-interest, Miss Potter is a love story based on the traditions of a more restrained, and gentler time. There are no breathless kisses that resemble the annual Tony’s Hot Dog-eating contest, or holds that are not out of place on a reject tape of So You Think You Can Dance.
Nope, this story is made of sterner stuff than that, and shows the delightful tension and drama that can be built through pure love.
Yes, I love this story. It’s heart is as wide and open as the English countryside itself.
But two warnings are appropriate. Pack some Kleenex, and be prepared to love Renee Zellweger – even if it’s only for 92 minutes.
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