Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ on Apple TV+, a Charming and Typically Tearjerking Adaptation of the Classic Children’s Book

Anyone in need of a good cry could do a lot worse than The Velveteen Rabbit (now on Apple TV+), which adapts author Margery Williams and illustrator William Nicholson’s classic 1921 children’s book in live action with charming dalliances into stop-motion and traditional 2D animation. It’s a 44-minute charmer that stirs bittersweet joy and melancholy with some hot-chocolatey Christmas-season warmth – and will prompt us softhearts to pour one out for our great childhood stuffies. Mine was Bun-Bun, and my son’s is a wolf named Taco. What was yours?

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Young William (Phoenix Laroche) is a shy, shy boy. Even if he doesn’t say he’s dreading moving away, we can see it in his lachrymose expression and body language. As his parents drive through the countryside to their new home, he holds tight to the Christmas card his former teacher gave him, signed by all his classmates. His new home is lovely and spacious, and he even has his own playroom, but what good is it if he’s in there by himself all the time? Kids live next door, and he peers through the hedge as they romp through the snow. He practices introducing himself, then – well, he hesitates. Then turns around and heads back into the house.

It’s Christmas day, and William can’t WAIT to see what Father Christmas brought him. And there he is: the Velveteen Rabbit, his little head poking out of William’s stocking. William and Rabbit have grand adventures through the house, playing in a fort and exploring the basement. The family goes to church, and is that the neighbor girl smiling at William? He hides behind his mom. That night, William goes to bed and Rabbit gets placed in the playroom. And as all toys do when the humans aren’t looking, Rabbit comes to life. His nose twitches and his eyes move and he talks (with the voice of Alex Lawther), and the other toys speak on what it means to be “real.” The toy car (Lois Chimimba) is a judgmental jerk, but Wise Horse (Helena Bonham Carter exclamation point!) is kind and explains that being “real” for a toy is something that happens when your owner loves you and plays with you until you’re worn.

Is Rabbit “real”? If not, he seems to be on his way, as he quickly becomes William’s favorite toy. They try to dig a tunnel back to his old home and school; they hunt treasure; they bravely traverse the woods. But William comes back inside with a sniffle and a sneeze, and after not long at all, he’s touch-and-go with a terrible fever. And soon, Rabbit faces the decision of his life. His life? Is he alive? Is he “real”? Oh jeez. The tears are welling up already.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It never occurred to me that the grand gutwrenching finale of Toy Story 3 was likely inspired by The Velveteen Rabbit. 

Performance Worth Watching: Laroche gives a soulful performance that exquisitely captures the joy and pain of growing up.

Memorable Dialogue: One of the judgmental toys looks at Rabbit’s torn fabric he got while playing with William: “What kind of toy doesn’t have regulation innards?”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: “Every ending is the beginning of something new” is a lesson Rabbit, and in turn William, learns as their grand friendship draws to a tearjerking close. The simple story of The Velveteen Rabbit inspires thoughtful ponderings on the nature and rewards of unconditional love. This version differs from the book by having William move away from the home and friends he loves, adding a layer of emotional complexity and illustrating the effects that major life changes have on young minds. Inspired visuals – period detail, whimsical animated sequences – enrich the story’s themes and generate a warm atmosphere that invites us to laugh and cry with William and Rabbit.

And Rabbit – he faces an existential crisis that’s as amusing as it is heartbreaking. Maybe he doesn’t have “regulation innards,” but he damn sure has a heart. A selfless one, even. If you want to be picky about the “rules” of the Velveteen narrative, what happens to him doesn’t make logical two-plus-two-equals-four sense, but it is emotionally deep and rich, and if you please, a gentle allegory for the rewards of living a substantive and altruistic life. And remember, no toy is ever just a toy; it absolutely becomes “real” if you give it the gift of your imagination.

Our Call: You say hello and you say goodbye and you cry – and that’s life. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.