Paddington the movie is a wonderful thing for children of all ages and if that sounds like a blurb it is meant to and I am not the only one who thinks so as it has a 98% approval rating on rotten tomatoes. The movie, directed by Paul King (an English sitcom guy), is the back story for the beloved English children’s books by Michael Bond “Paddington Bear”. Taking us from his Aunt and Uncle in the Wilds of Peru meeting with an explorer who teaches them 107 phrases for rain (“brolly weather” any one), gives them a taste for marmalade and inviting them to visit any time, before he returned to England to the wilds of Heathrow Airport.
Many years later, an earthquake destroys the young bear’s home and so he leaves his Aunt and voyages to London where he finds it not as hospitable as he was lead to believe until a London family lead by a risk assessor trying very hard to protect his kids (the brilliant Hugh Bonneville –I know him from “Notting Hill”) and his beatific wife Sally Hawkins. I’ve loved Sally since Mike Leigh’s “Happy Go Lucky” and it is a wonder, there is a certain role, this is one of them, how she exudes pure niceness. It’s like she is dipped in angel dust but without the malarkey. Every time Sally is on the screen you feel happy, you wish you knew her. Ben Winslaw voices the CGI created Paddington (named after the train station –you can’t pronounce his bear name), Nicole Kidman plays the villain taxidermist and really, I have always thought villains are scarier when they’re attractive. A Trinidadian band follow the family around playing calypso to suit the mood of the story and the story moves along at a cracking pace though without all the silliness of so much kids fare.
I went to an early screening and the place was filled with kids who watched in silence (no crying, no shouting, no stop it or else from bothered parents) and in excited whispers and it just goes to show you can keep children entertained without treating them like fools.
Let’s hope this is the first of a franchise, “Paddington” is a superb movie and I loved it. My grade is that of an old man, if you’re a seven year old child go ahead and give it an A+… you’ll be sharing it with your own kids one day!
Grade: B+
