It’s rare for a sequel to outshine its predecessor, but PADDINGTON 2 succeeds admirably. The loveable bear with the blue duffel coat and red hat returns to the big screen in a funny, charming, and occasionally emotional adventure that gives audiences more of what they loved in the first installment…and then some. 2018 has begun well.
PADDINGTON 2 opens with a brief prologue showing baby Paddington rescued by his bear Uncle Pastuzo (Michael Gambon) and bear Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton), who permanently postpone a visit to London to take care of him. Jump ahead a couple of decades and Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) is now a permanent resident of Windsor Gardens in London with his adopted family, the Browns (Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Madeleine Harris, and Samuel Joslin – all returning from the 2014 original). The bear is searching for the perfect gift for cherished Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday and finds it in the form of a unique pop-up book of London’s landmarks at an antique store run by Mr Gruber (Jim Broadbent). But the book is pricey, so Paddington gets a job cleaning windows in the neighborhood, but soon finds himself framed for breaking and entering the store and stealing the book. The real thief is the crafty Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), a former stage star reduced to acting in dog food commercials who has his own, greedier designs on that book which he’s discovered houses a treasure map. This leaves the Brown family to try and clear Paddington’s name while the poor bear attempts to adjust to life in prison.
On every level, PADDINGTON 2 is a remarkable work – far ahead of any (mostly) live-action family movie in recent memory. The cast is a who’s who of British thesps and all seem to be having a swell time: Hugh Bonneville is a doting dad who worries too much while Sally Hawkins is his sweet-natured wife, training to swim the English Channel. The background is peppered with folks like Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Joanna Lumley, and Peter Capaldi as Mr. Curry, back on his one-man quest to rid the streets of Paddington. Tom Conti shines in one of the funniest slapstick scenes as a judge who’s the victim of Paddington’s first go as a barber and he’s brought back for a couple of punch lines. But it’s the film’s two major new characters that really kick PADDINGTON 2 into high gear. Hugh Grant as Phoenix handily steals every scene he’s in. Whether hawking “Harley’s Gourmet Doggy Din-Dins” or reacting with shock when he realizes he has left home without his favorite ascot, Grant shows comic chops I didn’t know he had. My favorite is Brendan Gleeson who displays brilliant comic timing as Knuckles McGinty, the feared prison chef who bonds with Paddington over their shared love of all things marmalade.
PADDINGTON 2 offers a continuous stream of visual inventiveness, with a palette of bright paint-box colors and clever gadgets (the briefcase Paddington always carries contains nothing but an extending ladder which continually comes in handy). The prison sequences are priceless, eye-popping highlights, with pipes used for secret talks, an escape by a hot air balloon made of tablecloths, and a single red sock that dyes the prisoner’s uniforms pink. Unlike so many movies made “for kids,” PADDINGTON 2 has nothing in the way of gags related to bodily fluids, kid-friendly cussing, or rude behavior (even in prison!), yet it’s funnier than any film I saw last year. It takes a certain level of maturity to maintain this level of sweetness and the scriptwriters deserve a gold star for good behavior. If PADDINGTON 2 had been released a month ago, it would easily have made my list of last year’s best. It’s wonderful.
5 out of 5 Marmalade Sandwiches
