Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 30, 2021

Director Will Gluck (Easy A, Annie) follows up on his 2018 live action/digital hybrid family film Peter Rabbit with Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, a story that explores tired contemporary themes of identity, purpose, and belonging. It's not a bad film, but it's best enjoyed as a light diversion rather than as a serious bit of cinema art.

Things are changing fast in Peter Rabbit's (voiced by James Corden) world. Bea (Rose Byrne) and Thomas (Domhnall Gleeson) are getting married. Peter is also the star of Bea's new book all about him and his friends, which has become a local, self-published success. However, Bea and Thomas are approached by a big-time book publisher named Nigel Basil-Jones (David Oyelowo) who wants to bring Bea on board and run with the series, promising her full artistic license but gradually manipulating her to make changes to the material in order to sell more books, including painting Peter as a villain. Thomas in particular is all for that; he sees Peter more as a pest than a friend. Discouraged with his literary portrayal and Thomas' attitude, Peter runs off and finds himself mixed up with a mysterious rabbit named Barnabas (voiced by Lennie James) who talks Peter into participating in a scheme to steal dried fruit from a farmer's market.

Peter Rabbit 2 offers a fairly unimaginative follow-up to the original and follows two distinct plots: Peter's adventures after feeling "dissed" by the various humans in and around his life and the story following Bea's quest to publish her book. The main story is the main draw, of course, which sees Peter meeting up with an old family friend (supposedly) and getting himself mixed up in a scheme to steal from a local farmer's market. It's an empty plot if there ever was one, simply allowing for gathering more variety of talking animals on the screen and pulling off the film's big action scene. It also allows Peter to grow, of course, as he comes to realize the truth about Barnabas, his role in the heist, and how he truly feels towards Thomas, Bea, and all of his friends. While the superficialities may differ, the plot simply circles back to a basic opportunity for self reflection and growth that is about as generic as it gets.

The secondary plot is a bit more interesting (and more geared towards the adults in the audience), and it involves the widescale publication of Bea's books, transitioning from a small individual printing and binding to her work with a seemingly friendly, but obviously nefarious, publisher who doesn't care about Bea's artistic vision for the series but rather the best way to capitalize on the material and make money off of it. It's his vision of Peter as something of a "villain" that propels the rabbit's run from the world he's known. This plot line is fairly transparent -- the audience can see Nigel's scheming from the moment the character is introduced -- but there's enough dramatic interest at play to keep the parents occupied in the midst of the otherwise straightforward story focusing on Peter's distance from the ones he loves.

The film's technical construction is first-rate. The digital elements seamlessly integrate into the live action footage, so much so that even when human characters are holding digital ones the sense of volume and movement appears seamless. The characters look terrific, down to the last hair and clothing stitch, and the world around them is authentically flavorful, particularly the farmer's market where the film's big action scene takes place later on in the story. The voice work is excellent; the actors bring big personality to these small characters and these vocal contributions, as much if not more so than the digital work, are key to bringing the movie to believable, and agreeable, life.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Sony's 2160p/HDR UHD Presentation of Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway offers a modest improvement over the concurrently released Blu-ray, particularly in the image's adds to color depth. There are no dramatic transformations to speak of, but the UHD clearly offers the superior presentation if only for its mild-to-moderate improvements in overall color depth and punch. Look at the scene when a disgruntled runaway Peter first meets Barnabas in the 21-minute mark. The blue accents and crate full of oranges that serve as a primary background for the scene offer dense, deeper, more impressively robust coloring compared to the Blu-ray, though not such a dramatic increase so as to make a massive difference. The modest improvements extend to far end spectrum elements as well, including whites (look at how crisp and bright and pure they appear during a brief sparring scene in a gym in the 57-miunte mark) and black level depth. Still, the improvements are enough to warrant labeling this as the superior version. There are mild textural gains as well: slight but noticeable improvements to facial detail, clothing textures, even the digital constructs where animal fur in particular appears with slightly more intricacy. This is in no way a vital improvement over the Blu-ray, which is excellent, but there's just enough bonus visual pop and punch, particularly from the HDR spectrum, to make this the easy choice for viewers with the opportunity to play back both versions.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The UHD's Dolby Atmos track is not a radical departure from the Blu-ray's 5.1 lossless presentation. The Atmos mix adds marginal spacing expertise and extremely light, if even noticeable, top end support; most anything from the surround-back and overhead channels are complimentary supports, not necessarily discrete elements. Even Cottontail's "sugar rush" scene in the 14-minute mark doesn't exactly dominate the new channels, and that's amongst the most obvious opportunities in the film for such expansion. Otherwise, the track is proficient and offers clearly defined musical elements, playing with excellent clarity and appropriate front-side width with modest surround engagement and just enough subwoofer usage to add what little depth is necessary. Mild atmospherics are nicely filling as needed, though again without much serious top end integration. Dialogue is the audio mover and shaker here. It is well prioritized, center positioned, and crisply clear and authentic.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway's UHD disc contains no extras beyond a collection of Sony trailers. However, the following content is included on the bundled Blu-ray. A digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Bunnies, Baddies, and the Big City: The Making of Peter Rabbit 2 (1080p, 9:18): Exploring the cast and characters, making a "bigger and more special" sequel, sets and locations, crafting key scenes, digital character designs, and story themes.
• Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Wee Little Kitchen (1080p, 4:59): Making a micro-sized pie in Tiggy-Winkle's kitchen.
• Bea's Crafting Corner: DIY Bunny Bookmarks (1080p, 4:50): Making a bunny bookmark.
• Bea's Crafting Corner: Create Your Own Woodland Terrarium (1080p, 4:36): Another film-inspired craft with instructions to build a small habitat for plants and small critters.
• Fun from Peter Rabbit (1080p): Includes another craft video and a short film. Included are Make Your Own McGregor Garden (17:03), a piece instructing families on how to build their own garden (with additional trivia, facts, and interviews with cast), and Flopsy Turvy: A Peter Rabbit Mini Movie (4:00), a short film focusing on Cottontail, Mopsy, and Flopsy.
• Previews (1080p, various runtimes): Additional Sony titles.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway delivers perfectly serviceable family entertainment. The film is not particularly big on legitimate laughs -- especially for the adults in the crowd -- but children will eat up the familiar, yet friendly, antics and animation. Sony's UHD is very good. The 2160p/HDR video is excellent though not a massive upward move from the Blu-ray. The Atmos soundtrack is up to par and the included supplements are mostly tailored to the kiddos. Recommended.