Run Rabbit Run Review: Not in Wonderland

From the slow pace, to some out of character moments, it felt like Run Rabbit Run missed its potential.

Run Rabbit Run is an alright movie. Nothing too spectacular, and it leans more on the boring side of things. This movie is all about the trauma the protagonist faces and her method of coping. However, the slow pacing does make the movie hard to watch. The end reveal helps reframe the movie, however, it does feel a bit predictable.

Run Rabbit Run is a new psychological thriller that Netflix just released. When I saw the trailer, I thought this movie might be watchable, maybe even good. Netflix, at the moment, doesn’t have the greatest reputation of having stellar movies. However, after watching Run Rabbit Run, I have to say that this movie was disappointing. I guess I expected a bit more out of this movie that it didn’t give me.

The whole deal of Run Rabbit Run is that it deals with trauma. Right from the start, we learn about Sarah, our protagonist, and the loss of her father. From this start, I was expecting a deeper look into this aspect of her life. However, the rest of the movie didn’t really pan out this way. Instead, the movie tries to take a more spiritual or possessive angle through Sarah’s daughter, Mia. Now, this new angle that the movie provided seemed interesting as well.

When Mia starts acting strange and flipping between two personalities, her real one and one named “Alice”, I was intrigued. The young actress that plays Mia did a wonderful job flipping between these personalities. I did feel a bit creeped out, which is a win in my books. Now, what did sadden me a bit is that the movie didn’t seem to use Alice in Wonderland in any part of its plot. With so many references that work, I originally thought that Alice in Wonderland would be the base of the thriller. If Run Rabbit Run did make a horror style of Alive in Wonderland, just like that Winnie the Pooh movie released not too long ago, I think I would have liked the movie more. I guess it was just a missed opportunity.

Now, moving on to the actual characters, I thought they were well done. As mentioned before, Mia’s actress played her character well. Not only balancing her innocent perspective as Mia, but the personality shift to “Alice” made me shiver. I related to Sarah’s unease, because her personality really seemed to shift. Speaking of Sarah, the actress who played Sarah did well as well. She portrayed a concerned mother well, and when she later starts confronting her trauma, the way she acted felt real. As a character herself, I do feel like she was a bit harsh as a character. The way she was quick to anger felt a bit over the top. Now, since this a movie, some extra emotion is acceptable, since the actress is trying to portray an emotion. However, what I can’t forgive is how out of character some of her angry outbursts felt out of character. Sometimes, I felt like her moments of rage was used just to shock the audience, and not much more than that.

The final thing I want to cover was how the movie portrayed trauma. When it comes to the actual theme of the movie, I enjoyed watching that part. Seeing Sarah confront her trauma was the only interesting part of the movie. Especially near the end, when the big reveal of the movie happens. Once that reveal happens, the rest of the movie makes sense. Now, if you were to analyze this movie, watching it a second time with that new perspective would probably make more sense. However, the movie is quite a slow burn, so I can’t exactly recommend that.

Overall, I have to say that Run Rabbit Run was a bit disappointing. From the slow pace, to some out of character moments, it felt like the movie missed its potential. Another area I didn’t quite like is that the movie had nothing to do with Alice in Wonderland, especially since there are so many references to that piece of work. If you’re someone who enjoys works that portray trauma or enjoy the psychological horror genre, I’d say give it a shot. But if you’re someone just trying to find something to watch to pass the time, I’d give this a pass.