Paddington, the talking bear with spaniel eyes, was created by British author Michael Bond in the late fifties, at a time when immigration hadn’t become a contentious issue and foreigners were regarded with some consternation for their un-English ways.
Paddington Bear, of course, was as English as they came. He had the right accent and the manners and could consume truckloads of marmalade. Despite his tendency to create mild mayhem everywhere he went, Paddington fit right in, just the way thousands of former subjects of the Empire must have made homes for themselves in Great Britain in those years .
Paul King’s skilful and entertaining movie adaptation of the books is equally at home in multicultural London, which can now regard a red-hatted anthropomorphised bear with boredom rather than shock. Paddington is in the British capital in search of the explorer who had invited him over several years ago. The cuddly creature is taken in by friendly Mrs Brown (Sally Hawkins), who overrules her stuffed shirt husband (Hugh Bonneville) and her snotty daughter (Madeleine Harris). Even as he rearranges their bathroom fittings and helps the police with a case (inadvertently), he is hunted by cold-hearted taxidermist Millicent (Nicole Kidman).
Paddington’s adventures are strictly for amateurs, but everything else in this movie is most professional – the beautifully realised bear, Wishaw’s voice work, the colourful production design, the tourism brochure-friendly locations, the unpretentious humour, and the in-jokes about pesky pigeons and guards at Buckingham Palace.
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Paddington Bear, of course, was as English as they came. He had the right accent and the manners and could consume truckloads of marmalade. Despite his tendency to create mild mayhem everywhere he went, Paddington fit right in, just the way thousands of former subjects of the Empire must have made homes for themselves in Great Britain in those years .
Paul King’s skilful and entertaining movie adaptation of the books is equally at home in multicultural London, which can now regard a red-hatted anthropomorphised bear with boredom rather than shock. Paddington is in the British capital in search of the explorer who had invited him over several years ago. The cuddly creature is taken in by friendly Mrs Brown (Sally Hawkins), who overrules her stuffed shirt husband (Hugh Bonneville) and her snotty daughter (Madeleine Harris). Even as he rearranges their bathroom fittings and helps the police with a case (inadvertently), he is hunted by cold-hearted taxidermist Millicent (Nicole Kidman).
Paddington’s adventures are strictly for amateurs, but everything else in this movie is most professional – the beautifully realised bear, Wishaw’s voice work, the colourful production design, the tourism brochure-friendly locations, the unpretentious humour, and the in-jokes about pesky pigeons and guards at Buckingham Palace.
