NOT since Christopher Nolan’s refusal to give video on demand the time of day has a film’s release meant so much to the box office as Peter Rabbit 2 this week. Will families hop back to the big screen? Could Beatrix Potter’s eponymous carrot muncher really be the saviour of cinema as we know it? With half term around the corner, don’t bet against it.

Three years have passed since Will Gluck’s Peter Rabbit first divided critics. For Potter purists, the film was borderline heretic. James Corden in the lead? Hideously miscast. Gags about allergies and heart attacks? No comment. And yet..., against all odds, the bomb was a hit. Youngsters, less burdened by nostalgia, allegedly loved Gluck’s crass, wisecracking Peter.

In Gluck’s defence, it’s not hard to see why. Charm and wit were not entirely absent and delightful turns by Domnhall Gleason and Rose Byrne proved vitally grounding. What’s more, part two marks an improvement on all counts. Not least because it makes naughty Peter just that little bit more likeable.

Among the most prominent criticisms of Gluck’s first take on the tales was how little his characters resembled those they purported to be. Gluck’s Peter was no more Potter’s than the Duracell bunny. In that sense, Peter Rabbit 2 is business as usual. When acid jazz turned pop star Sia rocks up as a ninja Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, you just have to go with it.

Where the film improves upon its predecessor is in its shift to a more ensemble dynamic. Peter steps back to allow more winning protagonists to step forth. Furthermore, a kinder and more self aware tone pervades and the film is all the funnier for it. Watch for the inspired subplot that sees Byrne’s pastoral illustrator take not too kindly to the suggestion of her franchise-obsessed publisher (a brilliant David Oyelowo) that her paintings should be more hip and ‘sassy’. Touché.

A word also this week for the return of the Hinterlands Rural Festival. Over the next three days, Skipton Plaza cinema will inspire viewers to reconsider their relationship to the great outdoors with a frankly stunning line up.

Nomadland is the headliner but do give Minari and Ammonite a look. Likewise, an opening night showcase from Sarah Smout and Robin Richards - each championing the power of music in film - is not to be missed.