I was a bit surprised a couple years ago when I saw how many online critics I follow actually put Paddington 2 of all things on their best movies list. As far as I knew, it was a January release of a sequel to a kids movie that was also a January release, and I had seen neither. This was particularly surprising given the first movie’s trailer showed the title character making a mess in a bathroom in a series of disgusting body humor jokes involving sticking toothbrushes in his ears and then licking what came out before plunging his head into a toilet to wash the mouthwash taste out of his mouth. That didn’t seem indicative of the character I vaguely remembered from my childhood in a series of animated shorts.
Well, if I was going to see how good Paddington 2 was, I should probably see the original first.
After an earthquake kills his hat-wearing Uncle Pastuzo (voice of Michael Gambon), a young bear (voice of Ben Whishaw) is taken to a port by his older Aunt Lucy (voice of Imelda Staunton) so he can move from their Peruvian jungle home to London. Years earlier, and English explorer had met the bears and found them to be rather civilized and friendly. Plus, they loved the marmalade he brought with him. The explorer had left his hat to Pastuzo and told the bears that he would be happy to take them in if they ever came to London. Likewise, during the Second World War, English families took in all kinds of child refugees and treated them as their own, so Aunt Lucy figures the little guy will be OK.
Granted, he’s initially not. With only his emergency marmalade sandwich left, the bear lucks out when he meets the Brown family. Father Henry (Hugh Bonneville) is a risk assessor who isn’t too keen on bringing the bear the family names “Paddington” after the train station they found him in right away, but he will eventually come around. His wife Mary (Sally Hawkins) is a free spirit with her own ideas. Their two kids, Judy and Jonathan (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin) have differing opinions on the subject, and the live-in housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) doesn’t seem to mind too much. About the closest we see to anyone concerned a bear of any kind, let alone a bipedal one that talks very politely, moving into the neighborhood is fussy old neighbor Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi). Mr. Brown is more concerned with anyone moving into his house, not simply bears.
However, there is a problem in the form of a taxidermist at the Natural History Museum (Nicole Kidman). She really wants Paddington for a display case for reasons that become clear late in the movie but aren’t really that surprising.
So, while the bathroom scene does happen, it’s about as far as the movie goes for bathroom humor, literal or otherwise. The main problem for Paddington is he is a clumsy little guy and a fish-out-of-water type of character, so there are a few scenes where he inadvertently gets stuck in places or breaks things while trying to accomplish a task of some kind without any sort of instructions. He’s also unfailingly polite and sweet-natured, trying to be helpful when he sees opportunities even if he doesn’t completely understand the situation. There’s also a lot of gentile humor here. This is a very sweet movie, where a friendly bear shows up and makes a family closer with his addition. Normally, I’d see something like that in a movie with a pet, but Paddington isn’t a pet. He’s not quite a child, but he’s not quite an adult. Mostly, he’s just figuring things out, and his way of doing so seems to make people happier. And, it turns out, that can include the audience.
Grade: A-
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