Review of Paddington (2014) by James R — 16 Apr 2016

A delightful family film about the marmalade loving bear named Paddington (Ben Whishaw) who comes to London looking for a home. After his home is destroyed in Deep Peru Paddington journeys to London looking for the explorer that originally found his family.

Paddington has grown up thinking that the city is marvelous and everyones a warm person, but unfortunately when he gets to London its quite a different picture. Fortunately for Paddington a lady named Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins) brings the homeless bear into her own much to the reluctancy of her husband Henry (Hugh Bonneville).

Henry and Mary's kids Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) and Judy (Madeleine Harris) meet Paddington and while Jonathan thinks he's great Judy finds Paddington weird. Eventually the whole family warms up to Paddington, but soon his popularity gets the attention of Millicent (Nicole Kidman) who plans a kidnapping to stuff Paddington for the museum! The movie has a lot of heart.

It gives off a good story about someone who is trying to fit in and belong. The side story of the kidnapping takes away from it a bit and overall is a bit silly, but I enjoyed the film as a whole. There's a lot of silly funny moments (everyone seems very ok with a bear that walks around and talks), but overall it still is a good movie for kids and adults to enjoy together!