Review of Paddington (2014) by Patrick L — 19 Aug 2015

"Paddington is absolutely delightful".

Movie Review: Paddington.

Date Viewed: January 22 2015.

Directed By Paul King.

Screenplay By Paul King and Hamish McColl,.

Based on "Paddington Bear" by Michael Bond.

Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw as Paddington.

"Paddington" is a breath of fresh air from all of the dreck that has come out in January. It is a delightful and charming family movie that doesn't fall into all of the talking animal movie traps. Based on the series of children's books by Michael Bond, "Paddington" succeeds as one of the better family movies of 2015.

Our title character is voiced by Ben Whishaw,.

He is a semi-intelligent bear who lives in the deep jungles of Peru with his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) and Uncle Pastuzo (voiced by Michael Gambon). When an earthquake strikes their home, Pastuzo disappears after he failed to reach the shelter in time. Aunt Lucy encourages Paddington to find solace in London, how does he get to London? By sneaking on board a Cargo ship.

When he reaches London, he does find a home. He gets taken by the Brown family but Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) doesn't like pets in his house because he fears that he will cause all sorts of accidents. However, Henry's wife (Sally Hawkins) and two kids (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin) are pleased to have Paddington in their home. In every family movie like this, there's always a bad guy who wants to do something bad to the animal. The bad guy here is a sadistic museum taxidermist named Millicent Clyde (Nicole Kidman), she captures and stuffs exotic animals in her Natural History Museum.

Millicent Clyde is the daughter of Montgomery Clyde, a famous geographer who visited Paddington's aunt and uncle many years ago in the Peruvian jungles. When Millicent becomes aware of Paddington's presence in the city, she tries to hunt him down with the help of Reginald Curry (Peter Capaldi) who is the Browns' neighbor. Paddington's trip from South America to London is definitely worth it. It is full of charm and wonder thanks to writer and director Paul King.

Ben Whishaw (who played James Bond's weapons specialist in "Skyfall") does terrific voice work as the cuddly bear and Hugh Bonneville (from "Downton Abbey") gives a brilliant comedic performance as Mr. Brown.

With sharp British wit and loaded with funny gags, "Paddington" is inventive, gentle and well-acted without being cynical and derivative.