Paddington (PG)

Directed by Paul King
Starring Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman, Ben Wishaw, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent

Completely adorable and charming, Paddington combines a very British tone, genuine laughs, a talented human cast and a fun caper with a CGI bear - who isn't quite as cool as the classic BBC stop motion kids show version, but maintains that classic Paddington politeness (although here gets into mischief a lot more than I remember the tv/ book version!)
Paddington journeys from Darkest Peru to London to find a family, leaving behind his elderly Aunt Lucy. Paddington is a bear with a taste for marmalade and perfect manners. He is adopted by the Brown family who help him try to find the adventurer who introduced his family to civilisation after encountering Paddington's aunt and uncle many years before.
Major credit to the production team who have the tone just right. Not too knowing but not too tame and soppy either. Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins are Mr and Mrs Brown - so happy to see Sally Hawkins embrace the family business - her mum and dad did the kids classic 'The Jolly Postman' book, and she's a children's book author. Bonneville is even more perfect and his very funny disguise as a cleaning lady provides the film with one of its PG features ( 'mild innuendo'!)
Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman and Peter Capaldi have a blast as the baddies and the film's political message of London as a city which welcomes foreigners is delightfully anti-xenophobic. Julie Walters proves her expertise in portraying elderly women again and even the kids are not too obnoxious.
A lovely film, that deserves to be a big hit with kids and nostalgic adults alike! 9/10

November 2014


Back to Movies page
Back to main page