Miss Potter - Renée Zellweger

directed by Chris Noonan
UK 2006

Miss Potter is easy on the eyes. The first movie directed by the Australian filmmaker Chris Noonan since his sleeper hit Babe 11 years ago, it has the same pastel storybook palette and the same overriding mood of gentleness. Scenes filmed in the English Lake District, where Potter vacationed with her family and studied the local fauna, unfold like heavily captioned pages in a travel brochure.

Any hint of whimsy is welcome. And in the picture’s most endearing moments, the author’s characters stir to animated life on the page as she communes with them. These touches, of which there are too few, suggest a woman who is much more complicated (and eccentric) than Miss Potter lets on. They also evoke the intensity of the creative process through which Potter invented her classic characters out of childhood pets and closely observed wildlife.

The movie concentrates on only a few years in the life of Potter, who was born in 1866 and privately published her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, in 1901. It proved so popular that she took it back to a publisher who had originally rejected it; he reconsidered once she agreed to re-illustrate it in color. Published in 1902, it was an enormous hit, and the money she earned from it and its successors brought her independence from her strait-laced, nouveau-riche Victorian family.

Excerpt from Stephen Holden, The New York Times

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Theatrical Release: 29 December 2006

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DVD Review: Genius Products - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Yunda Eddie Feng for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Genius Products Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	93 mins
Video	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.46 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 French
Subtitles	Optional English SDH, Spanish
Features	Release Information: Studio: Genius Products Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • audio commentary by director Chris Noonan • The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter • The Making of a Real-life Fairy Tale • When You Taught Me How to Dance music video • trailer • previews for other movies DVD Release Date: 12 June 2007 keepcase Chapters 15

Comments:

Video:
Generally, the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen picture is a bit soft, and there is some print damage when it comes to second-unit photography. To be fair, the softness is part of the movie’s “look” and helps impart a certain bit of charm.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 English track is bright and clear, but as to be expected with a low-key drama, most of the sonics are located in the front. The bass feed is mostly reserved for music cues.

You can also watch the movie with a DD 5.1 French dub. Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
Upon loading, the disc cycles through an anti-smoking commercial and a couple of previews for other Genius Products DVDs.

Director Chris Noonan contributed an audio commentary to this DVD. He begins by relating the tortured history of the production. Noonan is very engaging, so the commentary is surprisingly enjoyable.

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter” is a brief documentary about Beatrix Potter and the Peter Rabbit phenomenon.

“The Making of a Real-life Fairy Tale” is a promotional featurette about the movie. You can watch the “When You Taught Me How to Dance” music video, which features a mercifully mellow song rather than an overproduced bombast. Finally, you get the trailer for this movie and previews of other Genius Products DVDs.

- Yunda Eddie Feng

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