Review of Paddington (2014) by Kevin H — 28 Mar 2015

Review:

At 41 years old, I never thought that I would be saying that I actually enjoyed this movie. I honestly was expecting it to have childish humour and a very English storyline, but it's actually got something for the whole family and storyline was well written. It starts of with Paddington in the jungle with his family and after a earthquake, which kills his uncle, his mother decides to ship him of to London after a explorer, who taught them how to speak and read English, told them that it would be easy for them to find a home there. When his boats arrives from Peru, he's dropped of at Paddington station were he struggles to find anyone to talk to. After a while he is approached by a family who kindly takes him in, on the basis that he leaves in the morning. He then starts to look for the explorer, with the help of the family, which brings them together and makes him part of the family. There are other aspects to the story, like the villain (Kidman) who wants to stuff him and put him in a museum but I don't want to spoil the movie for people. The CGI is brilliant throughout the movie and it really does look like he is in the room with the other characters. The storyline is non-stop from the beginning and the witty script and interesting characters made it a joy to watch. The attention to detail of the bears was also very well done and Kidman suited the role as the villain. On the downside, it is a bit weird that no one says anything about a bear walking around London, speaking the Queens English but it is a kids movie so you can overlook that point. Basically it's worth a watch, even if your a bit skeptical like I was, and I'm sure that you will find aspects of the storyline, or characters that you will like. Enjoyable!

Round-Up:

The director really got each of the characters perfectly right and the mannerisms and voice of the bear was spot on. We have all seen Hugh Bonneville play the father in Downtown Abbey so his role as the father in the movie, really did work. Sally Hawkins was great as the mother, who took to Paddington right from the beginning, and Julie Walters was a great addition to the cast. I'm obviously not alone by thinking that this was a well made movie because of the films takings and I'm sure that we will be seeing a sequel sometime soon. I just hope that they don't spoil the franchise now that it's made such a healthy profit. .

Budget: $55million.

Worldwide Gross: $251million (WOW!).

I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/adventure movies about a bear who goes to London to find a new family after his homeland is destroyed by a earthquake. 6/10.