By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

While they work as standalone films, at a meta level, you have to have seen the first Peter Rabbit movie in order to fully enjoy the second one. See, in the original, instead of rooting for the title character, you hope by the end Peter becomes stew. The once beloved literary figure became unbearable thanks to an out-of-tune script and a grating vocal performance by James Corden.

Amazingly, Peter Rabbit 2 turns the franchise around by acknowledging the criticisms and addressing the main character’s flaws.

After Peter’s failure to break up farmer McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) and Bea (Rose Byrne) in the previous episode, we reencounter them happily married. Bea has started to write illustrated stories about her rabbits (in case you haven’t figured it out, Bea stands for Beatrix Potter). In the books, Peter comes across as naughty, but good hearted when push comes to shove.

Enter corporate interests in the form of the suave Nigel Basil-Jones (David Oyelowo). Not only they influence Bea to change her light, picturesque little books into product-placement nightmares, they depict Peter as a straight-up villain. Worse, the rabbit starts believing the depiction is accurate and starts acting the part. Peter joins a gang of ne’er-do-well critters bent on filling their pantries via theft.

In addition to taking the weaknesses of the original and turning them into strengths (except for James Corden’s voice, there’s no way to fix that), the movie has a more interesting message for kids than your standard “be yourself” or “family matters most” (oh, wait, that’s F9): you’re not defined by what others think of you, but what you think of yourself. As for parents, it’s absurdist enough to be tolerable. Who knew foxes doing CrossFit would be so funny. 3/5 stars.

Peter Rabbit 2 is now available in digital and VOD.