Let's talk about: The Animated Worlds of Peter Rabbit

We have two DVD's that feature Peter Rabbit. 

The cartoons are both cute but very different from each other. 

We have pulled them out this week to watch them as we celebrate Beatrix Potter!

Let's have a look at these two different versions of Peter and his friends.

Maddy asked for Nickelodeon's Peter Rabbit cartoons a couple of years ago. 

They enjoy the Peter Rabbit story and she thought the DVD cover was really cute. 

We thought we would try it out. There are lots of DVD's of this including many different episodes. 

We only own the Spring Into Adventure DVD but we have seen many more of the episodes.

The intro gives you a really good idea of what the cartoon is like:

"Join Peter and his two bosom buddies; Benjamin and Lily, on their whimsical adventures through timeless Lake District. Peter encounters real dangers, and he and his loyal friends and family must use their wits to outsmart incompetent villains whose barks are way worse than their bites. Peter is a 6-year-old rabbit who lives with his mother underneath a huge fir tree in a hidden burrow. He misses his late father and desperately wants to grow up to be just like him. Armed with his father's journal, which is basically a guide to everything one needs to become a truly wild rabbit, and aided and abetted by his two best friends, Benjamin and Lily, Peter sets off to make his own mark in life."

The animation is really cute. It has likable characters with fun stories. Our girls really like the show. 

However, it is not the book. It has taken the characters and has created their own stories. 

It is still a worthwhile show and something I think most kids would enjoy. 

The other DVD is one that we have owned for quite a few years. 

The World of Peter Rabbit and friends is a much calmer, quiet, and simple cartoon. 

There are a few different intro's to the episodes where the actress playing Beatrix Potter sets up different stories. 

Here is one of the intro's: 

"Each episode opens up with a live-action Beatrix Potter, portrayed by the actress Niamh Cusack, coming to her farmhouse out of the rain, either from after finishing a watercolour painting and running home with her pet dog, Kep, or doing shopping and hitching a ride home on a horse drawn vehicle, sitting down to some tea with her pet rabbit, Peter, and then setting up the featured story. Once the story is finished, Potter either posts the picture letter herself or asks a boy to do it. An exception to this is The Tailor of Gloucester episode, which is set at Christmas time. The Tailor of Gloucester begins with Potter's maid, Daisy, serving out mince pies to some carol singers who sing the Sussex Carol while Potter and her pet cat, Simpkin, listen to them. Some of the episodes include story lines from two separate books, either told one after the other or intermingled."

I love that they use Beatrix, film at Hill Top farm, and include all the cute animals. I also find the song really soothing and whenever the girls want to watch something but we want to still have a quiet and calm atmosphere in the house, we insist upon this DVD. 

The other thing that I really like about this DVD is that they have made animations of the actual story books and they use animation that is just like the real pictures. They are adorable. They even include the fact that she started out writing the stories to children she knew that were ill. 

While we enjoy both of these DVD's, I thik there is a clear winner when it comes to our favorite. 

I just love the second one. 

I enjoy the glimpses that the children get into the life of the actual author by seeing an actress portray her and speak to her animals as well as the presence of the collie dog representing her beloved Kep. 

They really did it right. 

*Have you watched either of these cartoons? Or both?

*Is there another version that you have seen that I haven't mentioned?