When a thief steals the book, Paddington is fingered (pawed) as the culprit, and that's all the spark needed for everyone to doubt the character of this marmalade-foraging foreigner. The book occasions a marvelous sequence where Paddington envisions leading his aunt through the settings of its pages, little paper cut-out Londoners greeting them around every corner.Īlas, the real flesh-and-blood London soon rescinds its welcome. Gruber (a returning Jim Broadbent, delighted to be here) shows Paddington a rare pop-up book of London, he decides it will be the perfect gift for his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) on the occasion of her 100th birthday, and has his heart set on purchasing it. And so he starts off the new film the same way everyone else in the Western world starts their days: craving disposable income. Having won over the hearts and minds of the Brown family in his status somewhere between "foster son" and "family dog," Paddington is now a town fixture. Bond, who died in 2017, couldn't have asked for a better send-off. It's so old-fashioned the climax takes place on a steam train. Paddington 2 avoids nearly all of these traps, spinning a lovely yarn with effects that dazzle, slapstick segments that shine and accomplished British thespians who give their all for their digitized co-star. Not even the reigning champs of PG cinema could resist the temptation to simply rehash old characters and plotlines and coast by on good vibes.
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Better yet, ask Pixar about Finding Dory and Monsters University. Ask any parent whose kids have gotten hooked on the never-ending stream of Minions and Smurfs how horrifying the prospect of a children's sequel can be, since the target audience will gobble it up no matter how lazy the construction is. In Paddington 2, remarkably, King and new co-writer Simon Farnaby have done it again: a delightful family-friendly twofer the likes of which haven't been seen since Babe times. Yet director Paul King ( The Mighty Boosh) and co-writer Hamish McColl held steadfast to the spirit of common decency that anchored the books, and the result was a real charmer, a modern storybook fable that made the Ben Whishaw-voiced bear a hero to young and old. After all, Paddington could have become just another bumbling, idiotic CGI creation getting into noisy mishaps, in the mode of Stuart Little or (shudder) Alvin and the Chipmunks.
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There was every reason to expect the worst when Michael Bond's beloved children's-lit creation first made the leap to the big screen in 2014. It's Paddington's impenetrable spirit, his striving to do right by the world, to "always see the good in people," even those who wish him harm, that is the biggest wish-fulfillment of 2018. Forget the fact that he's a talking bear from Darkest Peru.
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#PADDINGTON 2 RATING FULL#
There are no "no-go zones" even a prison full of roughnecks can be a chance to help people in need. The furry little bear in a raincoat looks around his adopted home and finds, in the smiling faces of his neighbors, nothing but joyful spirits and good intentions. If only all of us could see the world the way Paddington sees London.
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Wee Ol' Teddy, Marmalade: Ben Whishaw voices the perpetually well-meaning bear in Paddington 2.