Photos
Meryl Streep
- Narrator
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaStory by Beatrix Potter ("Peter Rabbit"). Drawings by David Jorgenson. Music by the Irish band the Chieftains.
Featured review
A worthy tailor
Beatrix Potter as a child was one of my favourite authors and one of the ones grown up with, loved her timeless characters, charming (and occasionally dark) storytelling and also her quite gorgeous illustrations (with her being a gifted painter). As a young adult, her stories still hold up brilliantly and keep coming back to reading them frequently when at particularly low points because they really cheer me up. 'The Tailor of Gloucester' has always been one of my favourites of hers.
Rabbit Ears Productions adapted three of her stories, the others being 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' (my first Beatrix Potter story) and 'The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher', both great for similar reasons. 'The Tailor of Gloucester' is the third and last one and while there is a lot to like it is my least favourite of the three adaptations of the series. It is hard though to not compare all three to the absolutely wonderful 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' series, which adapted all three stories wonderfully and of which 'The Tailor of Gloucester' was one of the highlights of that series. This adaptation of 'The Tailor of Gloucester' does almost everything right, is well done in its own way and deserves a much higher rating that it has as of present, but the other adaptation just appeals to me more and sorry if this comes over as unfair.
My least favourite aspect of 'The Tailor of Gloucester' was actually the music. 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' and 'The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher' had a simpler, more gentle tone that fitted the tone of the story perfectly, while finding the music in the 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' adaptations more memorable (the same here as well). For me, with there being a change in composer (here The Chieftains) in 'The Tailor of Gloucester', the music doesn't fit quite as much. It's lovely and with beautiful use of instruments with a distinctive Irish influence, so it was good on its own, but the music for the other two Beatrix Potter stories and most of the series were more harmonious with the images in placement. It also pales in comparison to the absolutely outstanding music in the 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' adaptation. It's slightly old-fashioned here too and could have had more of a festive feel.
There is so much to like about 'The Tailor of Gloucester' though. The drawings in 'The Tailor of Gloucester' are lovingly done and very elegant in the simplicity. The use of pastels and images being moved throughout the scene were done very effectively, the latter doesn't look limited or cheap at all and suit the mood well without any overused gimmickery involved. Will admit though there is a personal preference for the watercolour painting/drawing animation style for the 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' adaptation, which is truer to Potter's illustrations.
Writing has every ounce of the charm that the original story's prose had. The same goes for the story, which is just as entertaining but also a little quieter. Managing to be very faithful to the story in detail and spirit. The tailor is a likeable character and Simpkin steals all his scenes but it's the mice that carry the adaptation's charm.
Meryl Streep's tender, sensitive narration delivery suits the material beautifully, it is so lovingly maternal and so well suited to bedtime storytelling. Which is exactly the right approach in my view, have always gotten the impression that the bedtime story approach in the narration delivery was intended in all the Rabbit Ears Productions' adaptations and that was often done incredibly well. Streep was one of the series' better narrators in this regard.
Summing up, very well done but hard to not compare to the other adaptation cited. 8/10
Rabbit Ears Productions adapted three of her stories, the others being 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' (my first Beatrix Potter story) and 'The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher', both great for similar reasons. 'The Tailor of Gloucester' is the third and last one and while there is a lot to like it is my least favourite of the three adaptations of the series. It is hard though to not compare all three to the absolutely wonderful 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' series, which adapted all three stories wonderfully and of which 'The Tailor of Gloucester' was one of the highlights of that series. This adaptation of 'The Tailor of Gloucester' does almost everything right, is well done in its own way and deserves a much higher rating that it has as of present, but the other adaptation just appeals to me more and sorry if this comes over as unfair.
My least favourite aspect of 'The Tailor of Gloucester' was actually the music. 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' and 'The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher' had a simpler, more gentle tone that fitted the tone of the story perfectly, while finding the music in the 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' adaptations more memorable (the same here as well). For me, with there being a change in composer (here The Chieftains) in 'The Tailor of Gloucester', the music doesn't fit quite as much. It's lovely and with beautiful use of instruments with a distinctive Irish influence, so it was good on its own, but the music for the other two Beatrix Potter stories and most of the series were more harmonious with the images in placement. It also pales in comparison to the absolutely outstanding music in the 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' adaptation. It's slightly old-fashioned here too and could have had more of a festive feel.
There is so much to like about 'The Tailor of Gloucester' though. The drawings in 'The Tailor of Gloucester' are lovingly done and very elegant in the simplicity. The use of pastels and images being moved throughout the scene were done very effectively, the latter doesn't look limited or cheap at all and suit the mood well without any overused gimmickery involved. Will admit though there is a personal preference for the watercolour painting/drawing animation style for the 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' adaptation, which is truer to Potter's illustrations.
Writing has every ounce of the charm that the original story's prose had. The same goes for the story, which is just as entertaining but also a little quieter. Managing to be very faithful to the story in detail and spirit. The tailor is a likeable character and Simpkin steals all his scenes but it's the mice that carry the adaptation's charm.
Meryl Streep's tender, sensitive narration delivery suits the material beautifully, it is so lovingly maternal and so well suited to bedtime storytelling. Which is exactly the right approach in my view, have always gotten the impression that the bedtime story approach in the narration delivery was intended in all the Rabbit Ears Productions' adaptations and that was often done incredibly well. Streep was one of the series' better narrators in this regard.
Summing up, very well done but hard to not compare to the other adaptation cited. 8/10
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 2, 2020
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