Paddington

My biases up front: I grew up loving the Paddington books. I adored my stuffed Paddington (ironic twist with the film – more on that later) and bought deeply into the idea that I had adopted him and would take good care of him. When I saw the trailer for the film, featuring the motley version of Paddington going through a series of bathroom gross-out gags I thought it was another example of a childhood favorite “modernized” by some executive fool in the name of drawing the younger demographic. In truth, maybe that was the appeal here as my three and five year old were very excited to see the misadventures and bathroom gags of Paddington. Thankfully, for me (and my children), that was the only scene that bordered on that type of humor.

Paddington is given to us in the film via an adventure film from a British explorer in the mid 1900’s. The explorer finds two intelligent and friendly bears in the far reaches of darkest Peru – the name alone sparks adventure. Like most great children’s films, a familial tragedy propels the action forward. Paddington is quickly in London, where he’s been promised a good home with absolutely no idea on how he’ll get it. He is an immigrant, an orphan and a lost soul at once.

He is given a temporary home by the Browns, truthfully, just mother Mary Brown as father Henry Brown wants nothing to do with Paddington. This moment, like so many in the film cuts to the heart of the story in a much deeper way than I remember being engaged with the books as a child. I’m fortunate to not have been an orphaned immigrant and therefore understand only the humor, misadventures and passion for marmalade that Paddington had. It’s a testament to the strength of the story to appeal to multiple generations equally well. The villain of the film, played with nasty delight by Nicole Kidman, is a taxidermist who feels wronged by Paddington for reasons you should see for yourself. 

Paddington is rich in heart, love and style. It deserves credit for the questions it brings up about class, immigration, adoption and family without once having these issues overtake the narrative drive – which is “simply” to find Paddington a home. The animated Paddington is flawlessly intertwined into the live action film, which doesn’t surprise as much as it used to due to the stratospheric development of computerized graphics, though it is delightful to see it done so well that Paddington’s reality is an afterthought. All the characters have nice arcs and the actors play their parts very well. 

The only disturbing fact about the whole family experience was leaving the theater and having my three year old daughter look at the poster for upcoming sequel “Ted 2” featuring an animated bear (Ted) of an entirely different shade with it’s back to us and the tagline “Ted is coming, again”. No, I don’t think you can see that one, honey. But mommy and daddy probably will. Such is the odd life of adult-child parents.  

Resonance Rating: 4.5 out of 5