my first experience with Paddington bear was a good one. I didn't honestly expect much from the movie, but it delivers with a large amount of heart and humor that hasn't been seen in a family film in some time. I highly, highly recommend Paddington 2 for anyone looking for a pleasant family film. It's nearly perfect in every way.
Okay. Honest truth here. I didn’t expect much from Paddington 2. It seemed like a potential cash-in on an adorable character that has survived the test of times. I wrongly assumed and expected something similar to the Marmaduke and Garfield movies with this film, where the antics were the driving force instead of the story. This is what I thought and I’m a bad reviewer for having thought these things. You should never have preconceived notions about movies, as it could skew the review.
To put it bluntly, I was completely wrong. Paddington 2 is darn good. It contains compelling characters, a lovable lead, and a story that belongs in a children’s book. Let’s get right to it.
Official Synopsis
While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy’s hundredth birthday, Paddington sees a unique pop-up book in Mr. Grubr’s antique shop, and embarks upon a series of odd jobs to buy it. Hilarity and adventure ensue when the book is stolen and Paddington and the Browns must unmask the thief.
The first act of Paddington starts out with basically a small origin story of Paddington and his relationship with his Aunt Lucy. Lucy saves him from the perils of a waterfall and a mother/son relationship begins. The act quickly switches to Paddington’s life with the Browns and the surrounding neighbors. It goes through various ways he helps out his community, while showing how much they adore him in return. It’s a quick introduction to the character and it puts everything right out there for the viewer in terms of who Paddington is with these folks.
Now, the crux of story in the film is his small journey that has him on the search for a birthday present for his Aunt Lucy. The search brings him to an old pop-up book at an antique shop, run by Mr. Guber (Jim Broadbent), that he wants to get her, and concludes with Paddington getting various jobs to pay for the present. Paddington jumps from being a barber, not a successful one, to becoming a window washer, which ends up being a lucrative gig. In a collective montage of funny window washing moments, his wealth and journey to acquiring the book gets closer and closer.
The first act also takes Paddington to a giant carnival that is led by failed actor Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), who learns that Paddington is trying to acquire a certain pop-up book, which peaks the interest of Phoenix — for nefarious reasons. Act one wraps with Paddington catching a thief breaking into the antique shop and stealing his Aunt’s soon-to-be book, unfortunately when the police catch up to the chase they only find Paddington, who is quickly arrested.
The first act, while somewhat packed with introductions and reminders of the character, in case you forgot from the first film, does a great job really establishing the main players in the story, as well as establishing how much the main character is loved. It also re-establishes the innocent personality that Paddington carries and how his simplistic view of the world brings the best out of his surrounding audience. The opening does a fantastic job of showing the viewer all the emotion that comes with being around Paddington bear. Director/writer Paul King, and additional writer Simon Farnaby, did a superb job of setting the world of Paddington up in a breezy, effortless way. You could not have a better opening act for a family film. That said, I didn’t expect Paddington to do hard time at the end of act one, as it’s a frightening situation for a lovable character to be in, but it was handled with care and doesn’t add much concern for a young audience to think about. There are certain playful aspects added to Paddington’s jail journey, but those really begin in the second act.
The second act starts with Paddington trying to cope with his situation, trying not to worry about his family forgetting about him, and trying to figure out who really stole the pop-up book from the antique shop. Paddington’s first order of business in jail is trying to make things better for himself and others around him. Paddington starts by befriending an angry cook named Knuckles McGinty (Brendan Gleeson), who is feared by the entire prison, and who makes really awful food. As you can imagine, Paddington introduces McGinty to marmalade sandwiches, a constant favorite of his childhood and his Aunt Lucy, and inspires the bully cook into becoming the chef he has always wanted to be, thus improving life at the prison. Once Paddington wins over his inmates, he then gets help from them, and the Browns — who do visit Paddington in the slammer, to find the thief. The second act ends with a prison break that has McGinty and Paddington split-up, as Paddington is trying to get re-connected with the Browns in order to find the thief. The Browns actually end up finding the thief and the third act is set to begin.
The second act is a wondrous piece of writing that twists a bad situation into a fun upward swing of emotions by establishing through heart and humor how beautiful Paddington is as a character. His turn of McGinty is fantastic and warranted, and fits right in with what was setup prior in act one. His reminder and driving point of the entire story, getting a birthday present for Aunt Lucy, is ever present in nearly every decision he made in the second act, as well as all three acts. His character was constant in action, his family was supportive through out, and his motivation to get his name cleared by finding the thief was built beautifully throughout act two. It was a gorgeous upward story trend to act three that never loses focus on what it was trying to accomplish.
In the spirit of every DC movie review, I will never really go into what happens in act three. I can tell you that it concludes with a surprisingly entertaining amount of action, action that isn’t too outlandish, even for a talking bear, and a big amount of heart/humor.
Overall, my first experience with Paddington bear was a good one. I didn’t honestly expect much from the movie, but it delivers with a large amount of heart and humor that hasn’t been seen in a family film in some time. I highly, highly recommend Paddington 2 for anyone looking for a pleasant family film. It’s nearly perfect in every way.
On the special features side of this release, here’s what to expect:
· Paddington: The Bear Truth
· How to Make A Marmalade Sandwich
· Music Video with Phoenix Buchanan
· The Magical Mystery of Paddington’s Pop-Up Book
· The Browns and Paddington: The Special Bond
· Knuckles: A Fistful of Marmalade
· The (Once) Famous Faces of Phoenix Buchanan
· Audio Commentary by Director/Co-Writer Paul King
While it’s not packed like a Disney release, the features you get are pretty darn solid. The music video is my favorite part. I can honestly say that I’ve never liked any music video on Blu-ray releases prior to this one. It’s quite entertaining in every way. Overall, good stuff, though.
