Paddington Review
PG: Action and Rude Humor
The Weinstein Company
1 hr and 35 Minutes
Cast: Hugh Bonnevile, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Matt Lucas, Julie Waters, with Imelda Staunton as the voice of Aunt Lucy, and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during my adolescence. Outdated language and talk might be seen in these old posts. Since then, my thoughts and values have grown. This review is being presented as they were originally written, grammatical errors and typos and all. Because to do otherwise would be that same as claiming these flaws has never existed.
STORYLINE: A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.
REVIEW: While watching Paddington, I kept having nostalgic feels of watching Staurt Little. The reason I bring up Stuart Little is because, while watching this children's book character come to life, they keep his cuteness and his charm without demeaning itself to modern age pop culture references (like every Dr. Suess movie). And Paddington has exactly that same type of charm Stuart Little has, but in a more British way. You know where the film is gonna go and you know how it ends, but it's the journey that matters. The thing about Paddington that outweighs Stuart Little, let alone a lot of live action family films is that within it's own story it's telling, there are beautiful artistic imagery shown on screen. There are little moments where the camera pans to a dollhouse and opens up with the Brown family doing their daily activities in it. YOU DON'T SEE ANY MOVIES DOING THAT! Or a subtle moment where Paddington is at the station and the "found" in the lost & found sign is flickering and then when Mrs. Brown goes to talk to him, the "found" sign lights up. It's clever moments like that makes Paddington a memorable film. The main problem of the film is it's humor. Though it is tailored to kids and their parents, there are very corny and awkward moments such as a man has to dress like a woman to sneak in, and is getting called "hot momma" is just the bare minimum of the weakness of the jokes.
LAST STATEMENT: Though the humor is weak, Paddington's artistic filmmaking and charm makes the film better than the average family film.
Rating: 4.5/5 | 90%
