Six Degrees is a regular feature that utilizes one of the web’s many recommendation engines to find and examine films that are related to Hollywood’s biggest new releases—but removed by six entire degrees of other cinematic features.
The Path: Inside Out —> Toy Story —> Babe —> G Force —> Chicken Run —> Charlotte’s Web —> The Velveteen Rabbit
The Recommendation Engine: Netflix
The Velveteen Rabbit (the book) is about scarlet fever. That’s something that plenty of people forget—understandably so—mostly because the Margery Williams classic is so emotionally devastating to such a wide portion of the population (children, rabbit, other stuffed animals, people who just really like toys and/or actual animals) that it tends to inflict a mild case of amnesia in many readers. You remember the big stuff—it involves a stuffed bunny, and something horribly sad forces him out of his beloved playroom and away from his little owner, that line about hair being “loved off,” blargh—but the details fade over time, like that scarlet fever thing. Said velveteen rabbit (known in the text as just “Rabbit”) is beloved by his boy owner, and his hair does get loved off, but he’s not tossed aside because he’s no longer cherished by a petulant tween, it’s because the kid gets scarlet fever, and anything that might hold any germs needs to go.
Like Rabbit.
Williams’ book has been translated to the big screen a number of times, most notably in the 1984 short “The Velveteen Rabbit,” which features rich animations that approximate the look and feel of the original novel, and is bolstered by the narration of Meryl Streep. It’s maybe the saddest movie I’ve ever seen, and fortunately for everyone’s nerves, it’s not the one my trip down Netflix Recommendation Road took me to. Using the streaming service’s “more like” section, I navigated from Inside Out (this week’s new Pixar release) to Toy Story (another Pixar release, duh), which then took me to Babe, followed by G Force, Chicken Run, and Charlotte’s Web, all of which capitalize on the talking-animal tropes that reign over the previous offerings.
And then I was directed to The Velveteen Rabbit, not the 1984 short, but a 2009 television movie directed by Michael Landon, Jr. The connection between Inside Out and The Velveteen Rabbit is certainly there—and it’s a bit stronger than previous Six Degrees outings—because both films are about the power of kiddie imagination and the unavoidable nature of growing up, which typically involves plenty of tears. Inside Out is, not surprisingly, a fair bit better, but even this Velveteen Rabbit has something to offer (mainly tears).
At best, the film is revisionist history, crafted to appeal to a younger set that might not be able to deal with The Velveteen Rabbit proper. At worst, it’s a cheap attempt to capitalize on a classic tale. The Landon film asks the important question, “I dunno, what if the little boy had a kid or something?” and takes it to the absolute limits of belief.
Foisted on his pissy grandmother (Una Kay) when his work-obsessed dad (Kevin Jubinville) decides to otherwise forego Christmas, young Toby (Matthew Harbour) is forced to spend the holidays basically in an attic. Toby is shy and sheltered, but he brightens up a bit when his grandmother gives him a fluffy rabbit (Rabbit?). Shunned by other kids and made to feel awkward by his lack of experience with childhood activities (like stickball), poor Toby takes to the attic to cry it out, all while furiously hugging Rabbit. When Toby wishes that Rabbit was real and cries all over the poor toy, he’s transformed into… well, not a real rabbit, but a doofy animated bunny voiced by a kid named Chandler Wakefield. When Rabbit touches Toby, he becomes animated, too. Okay, so, yes, this is cheap stuff.
Toby’s animated imagination—and the endlessly cheery Rabbit—unfold out into a wonderful world of, gosh, it’s unclear, but it involves leaves and fields and a big treehouse. Toby isn’t really animated, of course, and when his crotchety old grandma busts into the attic, she finds a kid in the throes of a serious, bunny-crafted delusion. “You’re just like your father,” she huffs, later threatening to toss Rabbit back into the box.
Williams’ book is preoccupied with the concept of being “real,” and although it is comforting to think that all the wonderful toys that we so loved as children end up being made somehow real, or at least that they’re all hanging out somewhere together, the approach that the author uses in her book aims for maximum pain. The Velveteen Rabbit hurts, and even though it has a happy ending—Rabbit is made real, all the other bunnies seem to like him a lot, and the little boy doesn’t die of scarlet fever—the path there is so genuinely upsetting that it’s almost not worth it.
Landon’s film spins off the idea that love can make a toy real, because when Toby clings to other toys around the house and gives them a big hug, they come alive (in the animated sense), including a swan that used to belong to his grandmother. Later, the Skin Horse appears (now just called Horse, because “Skin Horse,” come on), and he’s voiced by Tom Skerritt, who sounds either drunk or really, really sleepy.
Toby and the toys embark on all kinds of animated fun—some of their hijinks are even set to cheesy, uplifting music that at least packs solid messaging for the kids—and it’s almost enough to cheer the poor kid up. Oh, until he loses Rabbit. It’s genuinely heartbreaking—especially when Rabbit wakes up alone in the animation, terrified and cold, all while Toby is straight-up locked in the attic—but it paves the way for The Velveteen Rabbit to get back on track with its source material, as lonely Rabbit soon discovers the existence of real rabbits, who seem both interested in and flummoxed by him. That opens the door for a discussion on the concept of “Real,” complete with Skerritt yelling about the “shadow of reality,” and Rabbit’s eventual understanding as to how he can become Real, thanks to Toby’s love.
The pair is soon reunited, and changes take hold around the house, especially as Toby and his grandmother start to bond (told mainly be way of a long-form montage of them cleaning the house together, fun). Then his father comes back. This should be great, right? Think again, because while Toby’s dad can also see his animated delusions, they freak him out and he runs away. There’s also something about Toby’s dead mom, which somehow involves an animated carousel and is, frankly, very confusing. Anyway, Christmas is ruined again.
OH, AND THEN TOBY GETS SCARLET FEVER.
No one throws out the toys, but Toby totally dies, portrayed in a terrifying sequence that sees the animated world burning down, as Rabbit, Swan, and Horse hysterically try to save their home and their kid. Rabbit ends up sacrificing himself for young Toby, flinging his body into an animated sea, while Swan and Horse (who are maybe in love?) bob nearby, still hysterical (like most of the children who watch this movie, probably). Toby lives, but the doctor then suggests that everything get burned: Rabbit, the sheets, the blankets, everything but Horse and Swan. Toby, whose life has apparently not been hard enough, then witnesses his father burning a bag of stuff that includes Rabbit.
This is when the traditional Velveteen Rabbit tears start flowing, cheap knockoff or not. There are beats to be hit, and The Velveteen Rabbit bangs on them during the film’s final 15 minutes, which are reward enough for an otherwise bizarre and maddening spin on classic material.
This is also when I screamed, “OH, MY GOD!” because, as a sobbing Toby clings to his father and professes his love for him, the bag (still on fire) begins to wiggle and move, and a real-life rabbit pops up and goes hopping on his way. Toby is overjoyed, Horse is overjoyed, Swan is overjoyed, but come on, things were a little dicey there.
Later, everyone plays stickball and I sobbed into a stack of napkins from my favorite bagel joint. (Rabbit watched the stickball game.) Love can make you real, and The Velveteen Rabbit, in every incarnation, can you make you cry.
Fun pastime: read The Velveteen Rabbit on your Internet machine of choice, cry.
Previously on Six Degrees:
Tomorrowland to Sky High
Spy to Speed Zone
Jurassic World to The Last Mimzy
The Velveteen Rabbit is available for DVD rental on Netflix, for streaming rental or purchase on Amazon, and for streaming rental or purchase on iTunes.