Paddington (2015)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  6 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Paul King's 'Paddington,' is about a foreign species meeting a Colonial explorer, then one of their members seeking refuge in the UK years later. Of course, as everyone knows, this central character is a talking bear voiced by Ben Wishaw, but, regardless, the question at the heart of the story is whether blighty will be as accepting and charming as the old explorer said, and that basically makes it a story about immigration.
  
  When he gets off his ship from Peru, Paddington finds a cold and impersonal London where no one offers him a home, and he's hunted down by an evil historian (Nicole Kidman) who wants him as another Imperial trinket for the Natural History Museum. But, at the same time, he also finds the UK he was promised in the form of the Brown family (Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins) who take him in and eventually make him part of their home.
  
  This creates a sweet message about acceptance and tolerance, but it also provides fruit for all kinds of fish out of water humour and plenty of satirical moments too; from Paddington's jazz-soaked evening alone when he's cast out, to the very literal Mission: Impossible parody when the Browns rescue him from the Museum at the end.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The fact the themes underlying the story are so serious does sometimes make the jokey tone feel uncomfortable, and that's especially true when paired with all the saccharine nostalgia for classic British-isms like marmalade sandwiches and Colonial fashion and architecture.
  
  VERDICT: 'Paddington,' uses a funny talking bear to deliver a sweet but sometimes tone-deaf story about an immigrant arriving in the UK.

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