Ready to use movie – Peter Rabbit (PG)

CLIP: 00:43:41 – 00:50:00 

SYNOPSIS 

Based on the books by Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit, his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail and their cousin Benjamin enjoy their days harassing Mr McGregor in his vegetable garden. When he dies, no one can stop the rabbits from roaming across his house and land and eating all the food they want. However, when Tom, one of Mr McGregor’s relatives, inherits the house, Peter discovers that the new McGregor is even scarier than the last. Tom and the rabbits battle over the garden and food, and when Tom starts to fall in love with Bea, a lover of nature (including rabbits!), his conflict with Peter intensifies. Both Peter and Tom must fight their jealousy and desire to be in control to see if they can live side by side. 

Ask your young people if anyone has seen the film before or if they know anything about Peter Rabbit. If some of your group have seen the film before, they could review the plot (to the best of their memory!) or you could show the trailer (available on Netflix or YouTube). Outline the characters of Peter and Tom McGregor; does the group think that they will get along or not? Is Peter wrong to steal food from Mr McGregor’s land? 

As the clip begins, Peter and his family have already had several run-ins with Tom and are very suspicious of him. To make matters worse, Tom and Bea have now started a romance (after Tom told Bea he loves rabbits) and Peter is not only jealous, but concerned that this means his life of easy access to food may be over. Peter decides to fight Tom, but their fighting is interrupted by Bea and both Peter and Tom comedically pretend that they are getting along perfect-ly. At the end of the clip one of Bea’s paintings is ruined by Tom and Peter, but Peter is solely blamed. Angry, Bea throws Peter out of her house. 

DISCUSS 

After showing the clip, break into small discussion groups or stay together to discuss the following questions: 

•Who is to blame for the painting getting ruined?  

•Why do Tom and Peter hide their dislike of each other from Bea? 

•What emotions do you think that Peter is feeling? 

•What advice could Bea give to Peter and Tom to help them get along? 

Read Luke 16:10 together and break it down into two parts (trust and dishonesty). Discuss the following questions: 

•Why is trusting someone important? 

•How can we be trustworthy people? 

•How do you think other people feel when we are dishonest? 

•How would the clip of Peter and Tom be different if they read this verse and acted it out? 

This clip sees Tom and Peter get into trouble because they lie and fight with each other. Challenge your young people to tell the truth, even when it is difficult, in the following week. 

Peter Rabbit is now on Netflix.