“Paddington 2”: Who Knew? Not Me!

Posted: February 18th, 2025 | Filed under: Cinema | No Comments »

Culling through the NYT, I saw a header that touched my inner cinephile.

“Why Everyone Is Still Talking About ‘Paddington 2′”

A kid’s move that appeals to adults.

Funny. Clever. Well crafted. Deftly acted. Overwhelmingly well reviewed.

A perfect 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Until, that is, one naysaying critic retroactively posted his negative review from when the film was released in 2017. For which he may have had to hire security, so excoriated was he by an ever expanding throng of devotees.

Clicked on the synopses of reviews, one of which said something to the effect, “Paddington 2 is to Paddington as Godfather 2 was to Godfather.”

That’ll peak a movie lover’s interest.

Which, given my self adulation, reminded me of the review I wrote when blindsided decades ago by a similar children/adult, animated/real life charmer,

“Babe.”

Called it the “Citizen Kane of Barnyard Tales.”

Which the Vogue quoted on the monthly schedule when it showed there in repertoire.

Given the cold, this February weather thing, knowing I was going to hunker in for the day, I plunked down my four bucks to Jeff Bezos and clicked “Watch Now.”

Some sweetness, no matter how cloying, would be an elixir.

But my oh my oh my, who knew what a pleasurable watch this would be?

OK, yeah, a lot of you, who are saying, “Geez, kaplan, you hold yourself out as some movie maven, and you’re just coming around to this?”

Mea culpa maxima. 

The film is manipulative.

You know exactly where it’s going.

It is sweet sweet sweet, but never to the level of saccharine.

It is perfectly joyous.

Paddington’s a bear who lives with the Browns in London.

Everybody in the neighborhood loves him because he’s so kind and helpful.

He finds the perfect antique book to send to his beloved Aunt Lucy back in Peru for her birthday.

It’s stolen before he can earn the money to pay for it. Paddington is charged. Though we know the real culprit is Phoenix Buchanan, a delightfully, deliciously evil Hugh Grant, who obviously cherishes the role and plays it to the hilt.

He’s far from the only esteemed British actor diving into this divinity. Jim Broadbent, Sally Hawkins. Brendan Gleeson. Imelda Staunton. Julie Walters. And the proverbial many more, faces and voices you recognize if not names.

For me, it’s hard to write a qualitative review of a flick I enjoy so much. So, I’ll stop before this turns into hagiography.

You’ve been edified.

Be sure to stay for the credits and the Busby Berkeley musical number included over them.

— c d kaplan

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