DIRECTOR: Paul King LEAD CAST: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant, Sally
Hawkins, Brendan Gleeson SCREENWRITER: Paul
King, Simon Farnaby PRODUCER: David Heyman EDITORS: Jonathan Amos,
Mark Everson MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Dario
Marianelli GENRE: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Erik Wilson DISTRIBUTOR:
Captive Cinema Distribution, Studio Canal
LOCATION: England, Ireland RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes
Technical
assessment:
4
Moral
assessment:
4
CINEMA
rating: V13
MTRCB
rating:
PG
Paddington
2 brings
back the adorable bear Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw), now happily settled with
the Brown family in a small London neighborhood. He thinks often of his Aunt
Lucy who raised him. For her 100th birthday, he works several odd jobs
to get her a pop-up book of famous London landmarks. But the book is stolen, and
Paddington is sent to prison when no one—not even eyewitness Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh
Grant)—can corroborate his story that a heavily bearded man stole the book. In
prison, Paddington befriends the terrifying cook Knuckles McGinty (Brendan
Gleeson) who later helps him escape to go after the real thief. Meanwhile, Mary
Brown (Sally Hawkins) and the rest of the family discover a link between the stolen
book, a missing chest of dazzling jewelry, and a man with many faces.
This live-action/animated
film occupies us with its CGI, convincingly merged with breathtaking cinematography
of nature and urban outdoors. Then there’s live action and the lead actors’ good
acting. We can overlook how the adult actors eclipsed the Brown children’s characterization,
who should have been given a more prominent role in this movie meant for
children. But all is well, because the screen is undeniably redeemed by the
rest of the cast, especially Paddington himself, who is created entirely on CGI.
Thanks to Ben Whishaw (of the critically-acclaimed Perfume and The Danish Girl)
voicing for Paddington. His voice moves us to tears and his naivete earns guffaws
from children and adults in the cinema. Paddington
2 is a skillful mix of technology, direction, script, plot development that
holds our attention with its suspense, and a bucket of lessons of disarming
good-naturedness.
There
is however one point in the story that needs adult guidance: Paddington and
friends’ prison break is uncomfortably glorified. The rest of the plot—including
Paddington being suffused with grief thinking the
Brown family has abandoned him, later he nearly drowns, and there’s the brutishness
of life—are all within the context of the story and there is redeeming value. Conflict
is resolved in the end, to the point, in fact, of being too explicit about it. CINEMA
considers Paddington 2 a clean wholesome
film, well-made, with outstanding lessons to impart: manners-manners-manners, gratitude,
believe in the goodness in people, unearth them and stubbornly believe in them
even if the people themselves don’t, because eventually people have a way of
redeeming themselves. The movie draws us in, and we leave the cinema with an overwhelming
sense of goodness, and the world bending to receive it.
