

He’s an absolute joy in the role, and the various facades that he wears over the course of his fiendish scheme are all a physical comedy treat. Although, he is almost upstaged by Grant, who is a riot as the washed-up former theatre performer (which is meant as the highest compliment). Much of this is down to Wishaw who, as the titular character, brings so much warmth and wide-eyed optimism to the picture, giving a vocal performance so believable that it’s strange when you have to remind yourself that he’s a perfectly rendered digital creation. Even the prison system seems like a far more charming place to inhabit as Paddington’s kindness slowly transforms the inmates, including Brendan Gleeson’s hilarious Knuckles McGinty. Modern in aesthetic and design, and yet at one point, Paddington calls home from a derelict red telephone box. Its a 21st-century vision of contemporary London that works around its own iconography while feeling open and accepting of all people – this is still a world in which an anthropomorphic talking bear is never a topic of conversation. Curry (Peter Capaldi) can deter the neighbours of the street from rallying behind Paddington. It carries over the same idealistic version of London as its predecessor a multicultural society built on hope, integration and acceptance as epitomised by Windsor Gardens – where not even the constant grumbling of nationalist allegory Mr.
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From in-camera transitions which almost border on magic-realism, to effective time-lapse effects and camera movements, he brings a real sense of identity to the series that unboxes itself like a toy chest of wonders. A glimpse inside the pop-up book, in which Paddington guides his Aunt Lucy around a cardboard representation of London, is a beautiful call-back to the classic Michael Hordern animated series, but his work in the basic language of visual storytelling extends beyond that in creative and simple ways.

The key is returning director Paul King, whose direction is just as impeccable and picturesque as before, if not more so. Against the temptation to take the beloved bear and place him at the centre of a save-the-world narrative or facing off against fantastical creations, the plot is admirably simple and humble Paddington (Ben Wishaw) wants to buy a pop-up book of London landmarks for his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton), but has to get a job in order to afford it – hilarious mishaps follow, including a run in with Hugh Grant’s villainous actor character Phoenix Buchanan. Paddington 2 succeeds because it understands, unlike so many sequels, that sometimes going bigger doesn’t make it better. A sequel was immediately greenlit, and the cast and crew have somehow managed to match their previous accomplishments. Despite the worrisome marketing material it proved to be a joyous and goodhearted adaptation of Michael Bond’s original source material, arriving to remind us all that there was still some good despite all the hardship in the world. Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Sally Hawkins, Ben Whishaw, Michael Gambon, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Peter CapaldiĪ collective sigh of relief could be heard across the nation when Paddington was released in the winter of 2014. Screenwriters: Simon Farnaby, Paul King, Jon Croker
