Paddington

Whenever a beloved childhood literary icon is adapted to the big screen, there's always the worry that they will be transformed into obnoxious, pop culture-spewing imitations of their former selves.  I mean, just look at how some of Dr. Seuss' characters have been treated by Hollywood.  Fortunately, Paddington has made the journey to a modern day CG/live action hybrid film with all of his charm and good humor intact.  Writer-director Paul King has treated the red-hatted bear with the utmost care, and has created a family film that is truly delightful in just about every way.

The story begins the way it should, in darkest Peru, where a British explorer (Tim Downie) comes upon a family of intelligent bears.  These bears are somehow able to learn English, and become fascinated in his stories of living back home in London.  When it's time for the explorer to head home, he tells the bears that if they ever make it to London, they are sure to find a warm welcome.  The film then flash forwards some 40 years, with the bears still living in Peru, only now they have a new member of the family - a bright and inquisitive young bear named Paddington (voiced with the perfect amount of politeness and child-like naivety by Ben Whishaw).  The two elder bears are Paddington's aunt and uncle, and when an earthquake upsets their peaceful life together, the aunt decides that she must head for a home for retired bears, and send young Paddington off to London to find the explorer, where she knows the bear will be well taken care of.

Paddington's arrival in London does not go smoothly, and aside from some stray pigeons who are interested in the marmalade sandwich that he keeps under his hat at all times for emergencies, he makes few friends at first.  But then he comes across the Brown family at a train station, who take an immediate interest in the lonely bear.  The Brown patriarch, Henry (Hugh Bonneville), is a humorless risk-analyst, and sees Paddington as a nuisance and a danger almost the moment he lays eyes on him.  However, his much more open-minded wife (Sally Hawkins) and their two children Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), invite the bear to live at their home until he can find the explorer who initially stumbled upon his family.  The laid back charm of the Brown family as they warm up to their new family member is a big part of what makes the film so winning.

As a movie, Paddington works in just about every way except one, which I will get to later.  For now, I want to focus on its many positives.  Let's start with the look of the film, which has a charming storybook appearance that brings to mind a lot of the works of Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel).  This is a visually rich film, from its warm set designs, to its imaginative set pieces, such as the scene where Paddington is narrating what life in the Brown house is like, and we see the actors acting out his words in what appears to be a giant doll house set, the camera moving from room to room.  Of course, the most important thing to talk about when it comes to the visuals is Paddington himself, and I'm happy to say that he is a charming CG creation who does not seem the least bit out of place in this movie's live action world.  He doesn't look photo realistic, but at the same time, he's been designed in such a way that he's believable and does not stand out or look out of place when he's interacting with the human actors.  Sure, it's nothing we haven't seen before, but when it's being done this well, you really do appreciate it.

The movie's early trailers caused a bit of an uproar with fans, when they seemed to be emphasizing slapstick and toilet humor, as well as the appearance of Paddington himself, which some viewers deemed "creepy".  I really don't understand the complaints about the bear himself, as I already mentioned, the design works quite well in the film's world, and the vocal performance by Whishaw is pitch perfect.  As for any worries about crude humor, aside from a scene where the bear has some mishaps in the bathroom (and even that scene is quite tame, as the worst thing he does in that scene is use toothbrushes to clean his ears), this is as gentle and as warm a family film as you could see.  The tone is sweet, but not saccharin, and it has a tiny bit of an edge to its humor.  The human cast finds the perfect balance, so that they are inviting to the smallest children in the audience, but not so cute as to drive accompanying parents away.  In other words, the film is closer in tone to classic Muppets, then it is say to you average mindless kiddie feature.  There's just as much, if not more so, for adults to be entertained by.

As for the one problem I have with the film, that would be with the villain that the screenplay has added, who really feels out of place in the movie.  That would be Millicent (Nicole Kidman), a Cruella De Vil-wannabe who works as a taxidermist at the local Natural History Museum, and wants to add Paddington to her collection of stuffed animals.  It's not that Kidman is bad in the role.  If anything, she seems to be enjoying every scene-chewing moment of villainy that the movie asks of her.  It's just her fast-paced and sometimes comically violent Mission: Impossible-inspired scenes of her trying to break into the Brown house and nab the bear stick out like a sore thumb to the quiet and tame nature of the rest of the film.  Her character is not a total waste, however, as she does bring about one of the film's better visual gags.  When we first see her main office, we see it decorated with the heads of many mounted animals.  When she steps into her private office the next room over, it is decorated with the rear ends of those same animals mounted in that room.

This minor stumble aside, Paddington is one of the more delightful films I have seen in a while, and is just a wonder to look at.  It's so rare that Hollywood makes a family film that is so lacking in any kind of cynicism.  It's worthy of being made into a franchise, and I sincerely hope that any future sequels will be treated with the same level of care.  This isn't just a great movie for kids, but a great movie in general.

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