Paddington

Family films, whichcombine live action with CGI anthropomorphized animals, can spell disaster.Witness such fiascoes as Garfield andMarmaduke. Fortunately, writer-directorPaul King captures the whimsical sensibility of thesource literary works while updating it to a contemporary setting. 

The book provides only the most adumbrated backstory for itstitular character. In it, Paddington hails from the forests of darkest Peru,where he was raised by an aunt. She is now living in a home for retired bears.

Using a protracted prologue, the film fills in Paddington’sbackground. An opening faux Pathé documentary depicts a mustachioed explorer,Montgomery Clyde (Tim Downie). He is hunting for any exotic species that can beshot, stuffed and then returned to England. However, when Clyde meets Aunt Lucyand Uncle Pastuzo (voiced by Imelda Staunton and MichaelGambon), he befriends the pair, rather than shooting them. Heleaves them with a gramophone and some records. When Montgomery returns toEngland his account of semi-civilized bears is regarded as hokum and he is dismissedfrom the Geographer’s Guild. Montgomery ends up running a petting zoo forchildren.

Forty years pass, Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo are raisingtheir orphaned nephew (Ben Whishaw in a wonderfullysweet and subdued performance). As a consequence of listeningto the records left behind by Montgomery, they all speak with pronouncedEnglish accents. They have rather refined tastes, which cause them to routinelyprepare orange marmalade. When a cataclysmic earthquake strikes the forest,Uncle Pastuzo is killed. Aunt Lucy convinces her nephew to stow away aboard anocean liner and head for England. There, she hopes he will meet Aunt Lucy’sformer friend, Montgomery Clyde.

The young bear, wearing a distinctive red hat and duffelcoat, wanders to the Paddington Railway Station. There, people hustle andbustle past this ectopic bear, oblivious to his presence.

As nighttime approaches, the Browns, a family of four,arrive at the station. The benevolent Mrs. Brown (SallyHawkins from Happy-Go-Lucky, Blue Jasmine), notices the bear and nameshim Paddington after the station. She convinces her reluctant husband (HughBonneville from “Downtown Abbey”), to allow the bear to stay overnight at theirhome. Their dour tweener daughter, Judy (Madeline Harris) abhors the notion ofhaving a strange bear in the household. However, her younger brother, Jonathan(Samuel Joslin) is thrilled by the arrival of a potentialnew playmate.

To provide some narrative tension, the film creates adeliciously snarling villainess, Millicent (Nicole Kidman), who happens to be ataxidermist. Millicent realizes that it would be quite a coup for her if shecan kidnap and stuff Paddington, then donate the specimen to the NaturalHistory Museum. Millicent does not appear in any of Bond’s books. However, shewould have made a worthy adversary for another Bond, Agent 007.

Paddington is chock full of elaborate contraptionsand extraordinary visual detailing. It is as if Rube Goldberg and Wes Andersonhave collaborated on a film. Early on, we see the machinery that the bears havedesigned to produce their favorite delectation, marmalade. Later, we see youngJonathan Brown constructing all sorts of mechanical gizmos. The attentiveviewer will be rewarded with little details. As the explorer and his expeditiontraipse through the jungle, one of the porters carries a large grandfatherclock. When Paddington is temporarily adopted by the Browns, the flickeringlight above the railway office’s Lost & Found Department switches from theformer to the latter. A scene of a bathroom accident and another of Paddingtonriding on a skateboard through Notting Hill in pursuit of a pickpocket are alsoinspired.

Paddington is a charming little gem of a film,which can be relished by children and adults alike.