I watched this movie a few years ago and wrote a review for Other Doctor Lives, but I have enough of a backlog of write-ups that I’d not gotten around to posting it—whenever it came time to post about Peter Capaldi stuff, this review was always getting bumped for something newer. But it worked out well, because now it can double as Other Doctor Lives and Joel Fry-days! Although there’s not much Peter Capaldi and even less Joel Fry, it’s still a cute film that was fun to revisit. The brunt of this post will be the review I wrote when I saw it the first time, with bonus Joel Fry observations added in.
Back when I reviewed the first Paddington film, I mentioned how pleasantly surprised I was with it. After the second movie came out, I heard a lot of praise for it, but I didn’t get around to seeing it until several years later, when it popped up on one of the free streaming services. But having crossed it off my list, I heartily agree with the critics and viewers about what a great film it is.
Paddington has picked out the perfect gift for his Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday: a vintage “popping book” depicting all the famous landmarks of London. He buckles down to save up for the present, but before he has a chance to buy it, it’s stolen from the shop. Even worse, Paddington was there when it happened, so now he’s being accused of the burglary! What’s a well-meaning, lovably clumsy bear to do?
I’m not going to pretend that this movie is Casablanca or anything, or even Inside Out or Encanto. It’s not. Of course it’s not. But that’s not to sell it short in any way. Instead, I’d say it reminds me of School of Rock, which I classify as a perfect film because it does precisely what it sets out to do. That’s what Paddington 2 does. It’s absolutely the best Paddington 2 it can be, and that makes for a pretty delightful viewing experience.
There are the more expected elements, such as Paddington’s abiding love for marmalade sandwiches and his uncanny ability to cause whimsical mayhem with his clumsiness—his various attempts to get a job are predictably fraught with calamity and slapstick. There are gentle lessons, wherein he worries that the Brown family will believe everything the papers are saying about him when he runs into his legal troubles. And there’s also so much that’s wonderfully unexpected.
One of those unexpected things is one Phoenix Buchanan, a preening actor who’s desperate to hold onto his fading glory. He’s extra in the best way—at one point, he proclaims, “I am tickled the deepest shade of shrimp!” He keeps his old costumes on mannequins as a sort of shrine to his career, and he occasionally talks to himself in the voices of his characters, from Magwitch to Hamlet to Poirot. His presence in the film is ridiculous and endlessly entertaining, and he offers us a great take on Shakespeare’s famous bit of stage direction from The Winter’s Tale.
I also actually love the scenes where Paddington is in prison, because they show so sweetly and gently what rehabilitation could be like. Surrounded by fellow inmates who are all demonstrably bigger and more imposing than Paddington, many of whom put on a display of toughness, Paddington moves hearts and minds with kindness and marmalade sandwiches. Obviously, the road to reimagining the justice system is more complicated than a CGI bear going, Well, what if we made it nice?, but it’s lovely to see how he and his new friends in prison transform the place, helping each other out as they improve the prison in every way.
The main actors from the first film return here, naturally. Ben Whishaw’s gentle, lovable Paddington leads the way with warmth and quiet humor, and Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, and Julie Walters are all back. Hugh Grant appears to be having the time of his life as Phoenix—it’s a performance that’s so big it borders on panto, but it really works. The film also features the likes of Jessica Hynes, Jim Broadbent, and Brendan Gleeson as a gruff prison cook.
Not much of Peter Capaldi’s Mr. Curry, but what little we get from him is well done. His anti-bear attitudes haven’t changed since the first movie, so of course he feels thoroughly vindicated when Paddington gets in trouble with the law. He goes around crowing I-told-you-so’s like a punk, and he establishes his own Community Defense Force for so-called public safety. I smiled when he exclaims, “I’ve raised the neighborhood panic level to wild hysteria!”
Joel Fry makes the teeniest of appearances. He’s credited simply as “Postman,” although the Browns’ housekeeper Mrs. Bird calls him Joe. His total screentime is under a minute, and most of that isn’t in the foreground of the frame. While the Browns are trying to prove Paddington’s innocence, they need to commit some light mail shenanigans, so Mrs. Bird distracts Joe while Mary gets up to her espionage. As such, he’s more of a plot device than a character, but he does ask after Paddington, and this exchange amuses me:
MRS. BIRD: “Hello, Joe! What a surprise! What are you doing here?”
JOE: “Ah, you know, posting letters.”
Hee! Very cute. There’s a third Paddington movie, which I haven’t seen yet. Peter Capaldi isn’t in that one but Joel Fry is, so we’ll see what kind of a glimpse we get of him there.
Accent Watch
Peter Capaldi – London.
Joel Fry – Southern British English, I think—he only has a few lines.
Recommend?
In General – If you have any inclination towards kids’ movies/family films, I would. This is fun, charming, and sweet.
Peter Capaldi – A soft maybe. If you’re watching it purely for Capaldi, you’re going to get ten minutes tops of him in a fairly undemanding role, so it might not feel worth it. But whenever he is onscreen, he’s entertaining.
Joel Fry – Naw, he’s hardly in it.
Warnings
Some “don’t try this at home,” scary moments for kids, a little gross-out humor, and some thematic elements.
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