Review: Paddington
There's very little, if anything at all, to fault with Paddington, a thoroughly disarming work that sees Michael Bond's much-beloved bear brought to cinematic life. It's a playful, heartwarming affair that easily ranks among the best family films ever made. Both adults and children, newcomers and acolytes, will discover much to savour.
The film opens with newsreel footage of Montgomery Clyde's (Tim Downie) expedition into deepest, darkest Peru where he is welcomed and befriended by a rare family of bears. He introduces them to the pleasures of marmalade sandwiches and assures them they will always have a home in London should they ever come to visit. Many years pass, Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) and Pastuzo (voiced by Michael Gambon) still talk of visiting the kindly explorer though they have their hands full with their accident-prone nephew (voiced by Ben Whishaw).
When an earthquake destroys the family home, Lucy stows her nephew away on a cargo ship bound for London. Outfitting him with Montgomery's red hat and a tag reading "Please take care of this bear," she recounts how children were sent off during wartime and taken in by families to ensure their safety. "They will not have forgotten how to treat a stranger," she reassures him. Perhaps they have, for once our hero arrives in London's Paddington Station, he's knocked about and ignored by the busy commuters. Hope arrives in the form of Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins), an openhearted soul who convinces her starchy husband (Hugh Bonneville) to take in the ursine stranger, now christened Paddington, for the night.
Paddington accidentally stumbles into a series of mishaps - flooding the family's bathroom, falling down a subway escalator, an extended chase through Notting Hill that has him skateboarding and then flying through the air behind a double decker bus. More pressing danger comes in the form of Millicent (Nicole Kidman, relishing her villainous role), a taxidermist obsessed with capturing Paddington so he can be stuffed and added to her collection.
Director Paul King and co-writer Hamish McColl do wonders with the source material. Bond was inspired to write the first book after seeing a lone teddy bear on a London store shelf near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve. That vision of abandonment coupled with his memories of children being evacuated during wartime informs the film with an underlying sense of loss and poignancy. Paddington is trying to make his way through the cold and dark city, and the Browns' fanciful and inviting home offers a restoration of the warmth and feeling of family that's been stripped from him. Paddington's tale is also one of assimilation and one doesn't need to squint so hard to find parallels with the displaced immigrants that have made their way to London, where their increasing presence has engendered much political debate. Paddington plants its flag firmly in favour of the pro-immigration party, serving as a love letter to the London that invites refugees and immigrants.
Socio-political messages notwithstanding, Paddington is in the business of having fun and King spares no weapon in his arsenal to ensure that fun is had. The film is crammed with references from the slapstick that evokes silent screen masters Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd to an aerial shot of a sea of black umbrellas that's a direct lift from Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent to decidedly British humour that brings the likes of Peter Cook to mind. Visual flourishes in the vein of Wes Anderson abound, particularly with a dollhouse opening up to show all the members of the Brown household bustling about in their respective rooms. Similarly, the toy train that brings tea and pastries reveals antiques dealer Mr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent) as a young boy during wartime.
The cast are uniformly wonderful with Bonneville and Hawkins taking top marks. Colin Firth had originally been cast to voice Paddington, but voluntarily dropped out once people regained their senses and realised that, lovely as Firth's tone is, it was simply not right for the character. It's hard to imagine why Whishaw wasn't the one and only choice - his gentle and fragile voice perfectly encapsulates the sweetness, charm, and soulfulness that comprise Paddington's nature.
Delightlful and abundantly pleasing, one would be hardpressed to resist this divinely whimsical, enchantingly spellbinding film.
Paddington
Directed by: Paul King
Written by: Hamish McColl, Paul King; based on characters created by Michael Bond
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Ben Whishaw, Nicole Kidman, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin
