Review of Paddington (2014) by William C — 19 Nov 2015

Paddington, a small little Peruvian bear with a big heart and an extremely fuzzy face. Paddington the movie is the big screen film all about well Paddington the bear whose quest to live in London is both heart warming and pretty funny, I do though find some parts of this not that great. Featuring a cast with the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman and Julie Walters the film you would think and many do that this is a great old romp and one for the ages, for all ages yes very true but I did feel this a little basic, don't get me wrong it is perfectly OK and I would recommend it but I still expected more from a movie with such high praise.

Basically Paddington is a bear going to seek a home in London because his auntie told him to; we then follow him as he becomes a stowaway on a long trip to stereotypically rainy London where he comes across a family of various personalities. Hugh Bonneville's character Henry Brown is the dad and is very stuck up, works in risk assessment and his work follows him everywhere he goes. The mum Mary (Sally Hawkins) is really quite free and not like her husband at all for that matter, she is really the one who welcomes Paddington with open arms. We then have the children Judy and Jonathan with Judy being a teenager completely embarrassed by her family and not exactly happy by the furry arrival.

Paul King directs and brings a very fast tone, the movie speeds along like a bullet and every scene seems to suddenly become an adventure in itself. I think a lot of the things I did like about this come from the writing also from King, it is funny and every joke is set up in a way that not only the kids will laugh at. On that previous point I think one massive part of the appeal of this movie is the point that this is for adults too and charming and humorous enough to be enjoyed truly by all the family.

Like I said at the beginning this movie does feel pretty basic, I mean the story plays out pretty normally, the main characters all go in the exact direction you'd predict, but I think what made people like this was the heart to it. This is one movie where I think the trailer truly made peoples expectations a lot lower so when they came round to watching it they found it a pleasant surprise. Now don't get me wrong it is fun all the way through but still I feel this nowhere near as excellent as some proclaim, but take nothing away from it, this is still a satisfactory experience.

Overall Paddington is a movie I would say go and watch, and if you have kids then even more so because not only you might enjoy it but the young one's will too. I also want to add some more on the acting, basically from a concluding point Peter Capaldi is the best of the cast in his role as the always complaining Mr Curry, Nicole Kidman is not good in her role as Millicent the museum taxidermist, she felt too dull in her role and very atypical of the kind of character she is playing, I'm not saying she is completely to blame, the character is just not a good one.