Paddington 2 is for those who liked Paddington 1. I saw Paddington on DVD back when my local Blockbuster was still open. It’s amazing what a difference three years will make. I had missed it at the movies-the trailer didn’t get me enthused. I had some dim fond memories from childhood but this CGI bear would not do. He looked too fake and I could care less if he used toothbrushes in his ears. All the comedic set-ups seemed tired and silly. The sequel’s trailer is a prime example. Paddington has a pair of clippers and there’s a stuffy old British man waiting for his haircut in the local barber where Paddington works. How is that going to possibly end I wonder? There’s a stupid inevitability to such premises that I have no interest in. Although I will admit during said scene the other day I heard children laughing in the theatre and suddenly such things did seem funny.
Three years ago I got the DVD from my Blockbuster, probably Karen got it truth be told, and we watched it and I smiled. Maybe I rarely laughed out loud but I smiled. I smiled the kind of smile you only smile when you’ve been absolutely charmed and I was charmed by that film and more importantly by that little Peruvian bear. He always looks CGI but there’s fantastic design work from the animators to make you fall in love with this bear backed up by Ben Whishaw’s voice work and spirit of Michael Bond’s books. Paddington is always polite, always has his heart in the right place and always tries his best and believes in the better nature of people unless they invoke a good hard stare. Paddington exists in a world of fiction too where hardened criminals can make gardens once they’re shown a little kindness. These qualities are essential to what makes the character and these current films so wonderful to watch.
Getting these things right were crucial and now everything else follows. Things like a stellar British cast where even the normal characters have a whiff of the oddball about them, the villains are played broadly but avoid cutting a slice of ham and the production values are gorgeous. Usually set bound but clean, colourful and yet homely. When foreigners think of living in London they think of a street like the one Paddington lives on. I was charmed by the first and I have been charmed by the second one even more. Perhaps because Hugh Grant as a villain seemed like a funnier character than Nicole Kidman’s scary one in the previous film.
More likely it was the running theme of Paddington wanting to be reunited with family. My sister as you may recall lives just outside of London and she has come back a few times to see us including for my wedding. There is a part of me that would very much like to go see her in London one day soon but I don’t believe that is very likely and my parents are reaching an age where it is unlikely they will make such trips. I was charmed by Paddington throughout but at the end I felt a little betrayed. The movie ended abruptly on a moving scene and the lights in the cinema immediately went up revealing the audience as a whole with tears running down our cheeks. This is a great family movie.
-Lloyd Marken
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