Review of Paddington (2014) by Johnny T — 17 May 2015

Paddington brings a beloved children's character into the 21st century without sacrificing his essential charm, delivering a family-friendly adventure as irresistibly cuddly as its star. Marmaladen with gloriously silly jokes, pitch-perfect performances and incidental detail, this is a warm, witty and wondrously inventive great big bear-hug of a movie. The filmmakers behind Paddington successfully bring the lovable bear into the future and strike a balance between honoring the spirit of the original books and updating the story for today's young audiences. This is a charming film whose underlying message of tolerance and acceptance strikes a palpable chord in today's world - both for children and adults. Consistently funny, surprising and with a heart as big as its hero's appetite, it deserves to be the start of a new franchise, and can proudly go paw-to-paw alongside the cream of the kids' movie crop. Artfully and cleverly, the sweet spirit of that young bear from darkest Peru and his many London misadventures materializes brilliantly on screen in the very good hands of writer-director-conjurer Paul King. Paddington is fast-paced yet unhurried, serving up surprisingly subtle ideas on melting-pot urban diversity-Paddington is a stranger in a strange land, after all-and rich visual tableaux, including a gorgeous recurring shot of the Brown home as a living dollhouse.

VERDICT: "High-Quality Stuff" - [Positive Reaction] This is a rating to a movie I view as very entertaining and well made, and definitely worth paying the full price at a theatre to see or own on DVD. It is not perfect, but it is definitely excellent... (Films that are rated 3.5 or 4 stars).