Wow, I'm strangely nervous, given this is my first post in more than 10 months. Without further ado...
How exactly do you go about adapting a classic children's character to the big screen? Stay too true to the source material and you'll miss out on the audience of hyperactive tweens; stray too far, however, and you end up with a soulless “product”. It's a crucial balance that too many films have failed to strike. Few British literary figures are as beloved as the duffle coat wearing bear - in terms of recognition he's up there with James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. As such, it makes it all the more remarkable that Paul King's Paddington succeeds as well as it does.
The film opens
with Paddington at home in deepest, darkest Peru. He, his elderly Uncle Pastuzo
(voiced by Michael Gambon) and Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) are a civilized
bunch, living Swiss Family Robinson style, making marmalade, until a freak
earthquake leaves them homeless. Paddington is sent to London to track down a
friendly British explorer who came to visit them years before. Instead he finds
himself alone at Paddington station with no idea of where to go. It’s at this
point the Brown family arrives to offer him an (albeit temporary) home.
The reason Paddington succeeds so well is primarily
due to Paddington himself (voiced unassumingly by Ben Whishaw). Quiet,
understated, and always impeccably mannered, he nevertheless causes
well-intentioned mayhem wherever he goes. From running a bath to returning lost
property, his shenanigans are delightfully inventive and the set ups for some
terrific visual puns – bear left, anybody? He’s also impeccably rendered, the
perfect, fuzzy, “real life” embodiment of countless illustrations. Suffice to say,
anyone who grew up reading Michael Bond’s books won’t leave disappointed.
That being said,
the supporting cast are no slouches: Hugh Bonneville as fusty stick-in-the-mud
Mr. Brown, Sally Hawkins as the kooky Mrs., Peter Capaldi as suspicious Cockney
neighbor Mr. Curry. Classified as a PG due to ‘mild peril’ – Nicole Kidman
plays the film’s villain, a mysterious Cruella de Ville-like taxidermist – and
the sight of Bonneville in a dress, Paddington
is an utterly charming work of cinema. It’s silly, heartfelt, and features
Julie Walters as a hard-drinking Scottish housekeeper. Even as a hardened
cynic, I challenge you not to take delight in it.
With The Lego Movie having seen us in and Paddington to see us out, 2014 has been
a good year for kids’ cinema. This is laugh-out-loud fun that both embraces and
enhances the nostalgia factor inherent in its premise; crucially, a film that
will entertain children and adults in equal measure. What could have been an unbearable desecration of a British icon
serves instead as a surprisingly poignant adventure and a testament to the
modern British film industry. There’s plenty of heart (and soul) on display
here; to quote another famous bear tale, Paddington
gets it just right.
8.0/10
