Paddington 2 (2017)

I was a bit late to the party on this one, which came out a few bear years ago. Also, I haven't seen the first Paddington movie, but I've been assured that it'd be fine to jump right into the second.

From what I recalled of the general story, I knew that Paddington is a bear, that he's from....Peru <?? rising intonation>, and that he's in England...for some reason. Otherwise, I was going in cold. I'm glad I did.

The movie was a lot of fun and an outstanding piece of film-making. The story follows a familiar pattern: an idyllic start is established; a goal is set; an obstacle is encountered, leading to unexpected challenges; and those challenges are overcome, leading to a happy ending. Within this well-worn framework, the movie shines, particularly in its flights of fancy – diving into a picture book, re-imagining prison once the joys of marmalade sandwiches are introduced, and even seeing how the bad guy's musical would turn out.

My first response to Paddington the CGI bear was to cringe. It seemed like the kind of CGI that I would usually loathe. But once the story got going and showed its charm, I was more than happy to go along with the CGI, and I even came to like it. Upon reflection, I realized that any option — traditional animation, animatronics, CGI, or a person in a bear suit — would feel "fake." The reason why I was so reluctant to accept the CGI is that, in many case, the CGI is the main event – Wow, look at how realistically the hair moves! Looks at how we've made the eyes 87% less dead! For the less high-tech options, on the other hand, the format wasn't usually the point, the story was. So, Paddington's CGI was fine but nothing crazy in terms of visuals. More importantly, however, the CGI was used in service of the story, so it ended up working well, despite my initial misgivings.

The acting is also great, with Hugh Grant being smarmy to full effect, and Sally Hawking bring tremendous energy and charm to the role of Mrs. Brown. And the voice acting for Paddington himself is top-notch. I almost forgot to mention the high quality of this voice acting because it was so good – of course, Paddington sounds like that!

I think kids will like this one a lot, but who cares about them? The adults will like it, too.

Is it Totoro level kids' cinema? No – but it's in the ballpark, close enough to get full marks on my grading scale.

★★★★★