This is the Internet Warrior once again for another Random Movie Review.
Last time, I made reviews based on a Filipino film, a Taiwanese film and a Japanese film. So, let's see how the Brits do the thing.
Let's delve in to another movie. This time, since the last movies we ripped into are lacking light, I will review a light-hearted humor flick, a family comedy to be precise. This is my fourth movie review on the third movie I'll summarize based on something. This is the loving bear, Paddington.
From the produces that brought to us Harry Potter, Paddington is a PG-rated family comedy film about a talking bear who moves from the jungles of Peru to London. That premise, based on Paddington, a popular series of children’s book by Michael Bond, is obviously silly. Yet the adaptation of the writer and director Paul King is so on the money, so well-done, so deceptively simple, heartfelt and flat-out entertaining and funny, it make movies with far more plausible plots seem silly by comparison.
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| Paddington and Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) |
The film starts with a newsreel setting up a world where an English explorer travels to “Darkest Peru” on an expedition. There he finds a rare species of walking, talking bears. Fast-forward a few decades and those bears are living with their nephew, Paddington, voiced by Ben Whishaw, who is forced to move to London after an earthquake destroys their old habitat. Once in London, he has to find a home and a family to be adopted from.
That’s it. That’s the story. The rest of the movie – which runs just under 90 minutes – follows Paddington and a London family, the Browns, (a slightly inadvertently misleading family name) trying to find a place for Paddington to live. Meanwhile, an animal poacher seeks to finish what the old explorer started and goes to hunt the little bear. It’s a simple story that rarely deviates from that goal, save for one or two fun little effects-driven action sequences.
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| The villain, Millicent Clyde (Nicole Kidman) |
It would have been very easy for Paddington to waste half its run time with people in London scared of or confused by the sight of a walking, talking bear. In fact, that’s something you expect from a traditional movie. But that never happens in King’s film and that very important decision sets the tone for the entire movie.
By making the audience believe this world is totally fine with a bear who talks, it instantly sets the table for everything else. It’s fun, it’s a little irreverent, but it takes itself very seriously. There’s no ill will here. And there’s no awkwardness created by confused or evil human beings. Everyone is fine with a walking and talking bear, so the audience can be, too. Then we can just enjoy the ride, laugh at the jokes, and begin to fall in love with the characters in the film.
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| A fuzzed-up Paddington with the siblings, Judy Brown (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan Brown (Samuel Joslin) |
The one minor gripe with the film is King’s tone is so set, specific and lovely, those aforementioned effects-driven action sequences feel a bit out of place, but you understand and forgive their inclusion. This is a movie for kids after all.
Even in the best family films of all time, the families at the center of the movie often break into factions. Maybe the kids versus the parents, the mom versus the dad, or everyone versus the mom. Once those films start to move along, you only see a few of those characters going on the adventure. In Paddington, while there is definitely a unique and rocky family dynamic, eventually it becomes a literal family adventure. The mother, father, daughter, son and even the housekeeper all team up to help Paddington in his quest to find a home.
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| Paddington and Mary Paddington (Sally Hawkins) |
How rare is that? To see a healthy family, with a singular goal, working together towards that goal throughout a movie? It’s so refreshing and surprising that it makes the film even more warm and inviting. That drive also sets up lots of funny jokes, and moments of redemption and drama, but everything has much higher stakes because the family is doing it together.
In conclusion, Paddington is a great film. A comedy recommended for everyone, for the family and for people of all ages, be it baby or old hag. This one of those movies where you could get a few laughs or more with.
Anyway, as usual, let's end this review with a question:
If you are a member of the Brown family, how would you feel to have a kind talking bear in your family and why?
Leave your interesting and creative responses in the comment section below.
But thanks for ready today's Random Movie Review! I am the Internet Warrior and I approve this message.
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