134. Rabbit Academy; movie review

 

RABBIT ACADEMY

Cert U

76 mins

BBFC advice: Contains very mild threat, language, rude humour

Here's something to please the young ones as we near the school holidays - a film about Easter bunnies.

Although the premise of Rabbit Academy may prompt a few stern faces among children because it is about a threat to the traditional eggs.

Ute von Münchow-Pohl focuses on the rabbits who are responsible for painting and delivering as part of a rather labour-intensive production line, in co-ordination with a hen and her brood.

They produce the eggs on a hillside and put them in an elaborate shoot which ends at the rabbits' HQ.

The movie concentrates on city bunny, Max (voiced by Noah Levi), who returns home to become a Master Rabbit (think Jedi with fur and floppy ears) and help the egg production.

But instead of being a team player, he is always trying to make himself look the best, even when he isn't.

This is the central message from Rabbit Academy - the need to work together for the greater good and park selfishness.

Team work is egg-specially important because a bad boy rabbit (Sebastian Fitzner) teams up with a family foxes to steal the Easter goodies.

Rabbit Academy probably won't excite adults but, as it is only 76 minutes long, they could well turn to it to provide a much-needed holiday distraction for bored under-7s.

It will leave them happy.

Reasons to watch: Animation with a moral

Reasons to avoid: Slender plot

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its coloured eggs.

The final word. Ute von Münchow-Pohl: "I think the attraction for the children lies in the fact that they can say to themselves, “The rabbits do the same thing as we do – they also go to school and there they learn what is useful for rabbits: herbalism, how to protect yourself from a fox and how to paint Easter eggs. From an artistic point of view, Fritz Koch-Gotha's illustrations are so interesting because he was very good at caricatures and his characters are incredibly lively and expressive." Austrian Film Institute

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