Product Description

"Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and Peter." So begins the first of Beatrix Potter's Original Peter Rabbit TalesTM, which have been translated into 35 languages and have achieved international success in more than 117 countries worldwide. The beautiful illustrations are magically brought to life in this captivating series, including a live action introduction featuring Niamh Cusack as Beatrix Potter, specially tailored for each story. Each episode invites us to join the exciting adventures of a beloved group of characters, including Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle- Duck and of course, Peter Rabbit!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4530 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-02-12
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 247 minutes

Features

• "Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and Peter." So begins the first of Beatrix Potter's Original Peter Rabbit TalesTM, which have been translated into 35 languages and have achieved international success in more than 117 countries worldwide. The beautiful illustrations are magically brought to life in this captivating series, including

Amazon.com
Beatrix Potter takes her rightful place alongside Walt Disney and the Brothers Grimm as a storyteller for children of all ages, as this delightful boxed set demonstrates. The collection includes nine 30-minute animated tales (tails?) of Peter Rabbit and crew, originally--and lovingly--produced for the BBC. In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, our dear incorrigible friend Peter, along with siblings Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, is left alone for the day by their mum, who tells them to go have fun but to stay away from the garden of mean Mr. McGregor ("Your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor"). Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail mind their mum, but Peter, of course, is off on a grand adventure, and quicker than you can say "camomile tea," he gets the fright of his life, and a rather upset tummy to boot. Yet Potter's morality tales are not didactic, and the misbehavior is all too human (or lapine). Other beloved Potter characters captured in this set include Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-duck, Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, Samuel Whiskers, and Pigling Bland. All will make fast friends with young first-time viewers as well as bring sweet memories to adults who haven't read the original books in years. Potter is known as much for her delicate artwork and beautiful watercolors in her books as for the yarns themselves, and The Beatrix Potter Collection preserves and gives homage to her artistic skill. While the animation isn't technically zippy, it's perfectly suited to Potter's art and the stories themselves, which are allowed to unfold gently, without quick-cut editing or elbow-in-the-ribs setups. Also delightful is the music, unhurried and sweetly melodic. Settle in with some nice currant buns and enjoy. --A.T. Hurley

Customer Reviews

Beauty and charm for all ages
With the resurgence of interest in the art and tales of Beatrix Potter, there should be great interest in this fine compilation of nine 30-minute episodes from the BBC animated series. As the credits suggest, extraordinary care was taken to preserve Miss Potter's original art down to brushstrokes and washes. The animation is gentle, and invokes the author's characters - for the most part - with great charm and humor, Each episode opens and closes with photographed vignettes from the author's life in the Lake Country, and some are quite moving. The musical score, which sounds like an adaptation of Vaughan Williams, evokes Miss Potter's pastoral existence, and the closing credits feature "Perfect Day," a bewitching song performed by Miriam Stockley, the lead singer of Adiemus.

As I grow older, these stories, animated or not, acquire a mythic quality they did not have when I was young.
In addition, since these animated versions of Potter's most familiar stories bring the eye closer to the art than most readings provide, one can appreciate the color sense, character and innovation in her art.

I am not ashamed to say that I am 55 years old and enjoy watching a tale or two before I go to sleep. Now, as then, Beatrix Potter's stories, her colors and lines and reverence for nature have a way of removing me from the chaos of the present,

This slipcased gift set will make an affordable gift for a child, or for an adult who has not relinquished the child within.

Warmly recommended.

The BBC version has all the right accents - no dub overs!
These videos are absolutely delightful. My boys and I have enjoyed them for years. They love Samuel Whiskers and the Roly Poly Pudding especially. I have been looking for a production of these videos that was NOT by GoodTimes. The reason is because some of the old VHS tapes that were produced by GoodTimes had inserted some odd dub overs in a few places - exchanging the original British accent on a word with a dub over "American" version. I was planning to just have my old VHS tapes transferred over to DVD but now I don't have to !!! LOVE THEM!!! Love the British accents.

BBC 3-DVD 3/08 release = GoodTimes 2-DVD 2/04 release
Regarding the 3/08 BBC 3-DVD release, "The Beatrix Potter collection"--The Beatrix Potter Collection: This excellent and charming 1990s, British animation series of nine Beatrix-Potter tales, initially called "The world of Peter Rabbit and friends," was previously released on DVD in 2/04 by GoodTimes as "The complete Beatrix Potter collection"--Complete Beatrix Potter Collection 2pk, a box set consisting of two slipcased thick-case DVDs. The Goodtimes release also lacks extras (shame!), is in 4:3 color and Dolby 2.0 stereo, but claims 235 minutes total. GoodTimes sequences the tales as follows:
BBC DVD 1 = GoodTimes 1/1 2/3 2/2 (DVD/tale)
BBC DVD 2 = GoodTimes 1/4 1/2 1/3
BBC DVD 3 = GoodTimes 2/4 2/1 1/5
Quality of the GoodTimes release is very good (the animations are uncompressed). I've not seen the BBC 3/08 release. The GoodTimes 2-DVD set is currently available at 2/3 the cost (list price) of the BBC 3-DVD set.

The series stars Niamh Cusack (born in Dublin 20 Oct. 1959) as a very effective (but voiceless) Beatrix Potter (born 28 July 1866, South Kensington, London, died 22 Dec. 1943, Castle Cottage, Near Sawrey, age 77), with scenes from Potter's cottage and environs at Near Sawrey in England's Lake District. Voices of the animated characters include some very famous actors, as Patricia Routledge (as Cousin Ribby), Derek Jacobi (as Mr. Jeremy Fisher), and Hugh Laurie (Johnny Town-Mouse). More info at IMDb.