The Velveteen Rabbit

First up, it should be noted that fans of the original book, The Velveteen Rabbit, could be sorely disappointed here. This is not because Michael Landon Jr has made a bad film, but because his story is not that which Margery Williams dreamt up when the book was first published in 1922. As young children, many of us would have read about the happy partnership between rabbit and boy, as seen through the rabbit's eyes. In this new film adaptation, it becomes the boy's tale and the story arc has been tampered with. The plump new Velveteen Rabbit is no longer a Christmas present, but a toy that rosy cheeked Toby, the young boy (Matthew Harbour), discovers when he is sent to his grandmother's house after the death of his mother. "No tears," he is told sternly by his cold father. To escape his misery, he discovers three toys in the dusty attic and, by the magical power of his imagination, they all come alive in a make-believe garden. To emphasise the differences between these two worlds, Toby and his toys transform from real people and objects to cartoons. This just about works. "Everything that's real was imagined first," intones the bunny gravely. There is one genuinely touching moment that might provoke a tear, but on the whole, the schmaltz-factor is perilously high. "Love is what makes us real," says the wooden goose at one point. But tears and the fleeting drama of scarlet fever aside, it's a gentle film ripe for family watching. That is, if the adults can get over all the unnecessary tinkering with the book.

Although the story is not a faithful reflection of its 1922 source, it still makes for good family viewing.