Paddington

Launched by a much-loved children's book, A Bear Called Paddington (1958) by Michael Bond, which spawned yet more books, a clutch of TV series of varying quality, and oodles of merchandising, Paddington Bear is not a brand to be messed with lightly. The original stories' marmalade-flavored, quintessentially British tone of voice and the ursine orphan's episodic adventures don't seem immediately feature-friendly given the tales' lack of superpowers, princesses or stuff blowing up.

Perhaps that's one reason that the marketing campaign for the new Paddington film got off to such an inauspicious start, with the first trailer in June. The clip quickly spawned Internet memes about the CGI bear's supposed "creepiness" and much concern from British fans and Anglophiles abroad that the finished product was "in a mess," to borrow a Bondian description, especially when news broke that Colin Firth had stepped away from the microphone and been replaced by Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington.

It's a relief to report that the final film is actually quite charming, thoughtful and as cuddly as a plush toy, albeit one with a few modern gizmos thrown in. These include a contemporary (if decidedly retro) period setting, an extended narrative arc featuring an invented baddie (Nicole Kidman) to add tension, a right-on subtextual message about tolerance, and some winking jokes and allusions only grown-ups will get. All in all, it strikes a judicious balance between honoring the spirit of the original books and servicing the needs of the target demographic. Plus, there's a scene where Paddington puts his head in a toilet and floods the bathroom. What's not to like?

Inevitably, the opening stretch gussies up Paddington's back story considerably. Where the original book was content to merely tell the reader that our hero was a stowaway on a boat from "Darkest Peru" raised by an aunt now in a home for retired bears, the film shows us this and more. First, a mock newsreel unfolds, telling how Paddington's Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo (voiced by Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon, respectively) met a mysterious British explorer who introduced them to the wonder that is marmalade and also helpfully left behind a gramophone that taught them English with a decidedly British accent.

But years later, by which time their young, orphaned and notably disaster-prone nephew has come to live with Lucy and Pastuzo, the latter is tragically killed in an earthquake and this sets the young bear on his way to London. But at Paddington Station, he finds the locals less welcoming than he'd expected. (Nevertheless, the film is basically one big love letter to the city.)

Kindhearted Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky, Blue Jasmine), a children's book illustrator, takes a shine to the little bear, whom she names after the station. She manages to persuade her stiff-backed insurance-assessor husband Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey) and kids -- sulky teen Judy (Madeleine Harris) and 'tween geek Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) -- to let Paddington move in with them and their elderly relative Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) until he finds somewhere more suitable to stay. The aforementioned plumbing-related disaster soon occurs, followed swiftly by mishaps on a subway escalator, an elaborate chase through Notting Hill involving a skateboard and a double-decker bus, and assorted other high jinks that will tickle younger viewers pink.

MovieStyle on 01/16/2015