Paddington

Is it wrong to watch a movie because you want to see it because everyone in certain film circles was talking about how amazing the sequel is?

Well, here we are. Paddington is an English institution and its fans seem quite happy with this movie.

I thought it was charming though I doubt I ever would have picked it if not for the sequel talk.

An easy win if you are in the mood for a flick about a talking bear, English manners and Hugh Bonneville, Peter Capaldi and Nicole freakin Kidman dancing between the raindrops.

The opening with Peruvian bears who can talk meeting an English explorer and adopting his very English mannerisms is wonderfully charming.

Most of the movie glides along on this light charm. Not quite bust a guy funny but amusing. At one point Capaldi’s character Mr Curry calls Bonneville to give him an anonymous tip.

Bonneville immediately recognizes his voice:

Henry Brown: Hello?
Mr. Curry: Good evening. This is an anonymous phone call.
Henry Brown: Oh hello Mr. Curry.
Henry Brown: It’s not Mr. Curry! … It’s Mr. Burry. I have some news concerning the bear.
Henry Brown: What? What do you mean?
Mary Brown: Who is it Henry?
Henry Brown: It’s Mr. Curry doing a silly voice.
Mr. Curry: It’s Burry!
Henry Brown: He says Paddington’s been kidnapped!

It’s that kind of movie.

In another scene Bonneville wears a dress. And Paddington, though a serious of small mistakes in a human sized bathroom basically destroys a flat.

It’s just that kind of movie.

I leave you with one of my favorite lines from film critic Roger Ebert reviewing a different movie about talking bears, The Country Bears.

Do they know they are bears? Not necessarily. Do any of the humans mention that they are bears? Only in passing. Are there real bears in the woods who would maul and eat their victims, or are all bears benign in this world? These are not questions one is expected to pose about a movie based on a stage show at Disney World. We simply have to accept that some of the characters in the movie are people and others are bears, and get on with it. If Stuart Little’s family can have a 2-inch mouse as a son, then why not musical bears? We must celebrate diversity.