Recently, Andrea and decided to catch up on the first movie in the series.
Andrea had read Paddington books when she was a child but neither of us has seen the movies and I came into this cold.
I actually assumed Paddington was some kind of magical creature, a toy bear brought to life or something.
Nope, Paddington is a real bear.
And this is a real movie.
And Andrea and I really watched it.
And this is a real blog post about it.
Paddington opens with a montage as a British explorer tells of his journey to darkest Peru where he found a most remarkable species of bear. They are quite intelligent to the point they learn human speech.
They also develop quite an intense fondness for marmalade.
Before the explorer departs, he leaves his hat as a parting gift and an invitation to visit him in London.
Several years later and after the death of some bears, young Paddington has made his way to London to do just that.
Paddington has been lead to believe that Londoners are a cordial and welcoming people and would be more than happy to take a young bear in for a visit.
Er, not quite.
Everyone rushes past and studiously avoiding eye contact with the forlorn bear.
(Is this London or New York City?)
Until one person's compassion compels her to engage with the poor bear.
For the moment, Paddington has a home for the night with the Brown family although with varying levels of enthusiasm from the family.
- Henry Brown is a fastidious man with an obsession with order, security and safety. He sees Padding as a threat to all that.
- His wife Mary is a woman of compassion and imagination and is more willing to accept Paddington's account of himself and is willing to go off on an adventure to help him find the explorer who came to Peru.
- Son Jonathan is an adventurous sort himself but held in check by his fearful father.
- Daughter Judy is very intelligent (she speaks different languages) but lacking in confidence to truly be herself.
- Eccentric housekeeper Mrs. Bird finds Paddington endearing and thinks this ursine visitor is just what the Browns need.
Unfortunately, there's a least one person who does not have Paddington's best interests at heart, a female taxidermist who is determined to add Paddington's stuffed and mounted body to the museum where she works.
Well, that's kind of dark, ain't it?
Overall, Paddington has a surreal magical tone where the real world runs up alongside another world that is just a bit different from ours.
Where bears talk and really love their marmalade.
The "It's a British Film! Of Course Someone's Been In Doctor Who" Department
- 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi is in the movie as Mr. Curry, a nosy neighbor who causes problems for poor Paddington.
- Doctor Who companion Nardole Matt Lucas is on hand as Joe the taxi driver.
- Hugh Bonneville who portrays Henry Brown was the Pirate Captain in the Doctor Who episode "Curse of the Black Spot".
- Geoffrey Palmer has a small role in the film; he was the captain of the spaceship Titanic in the Doctor Who special "Voyage of the Damned"
- Michael Gambon who provides the voice of Paddington's Uncle Pastuzo was Kazran Sardick in the Doctor Who special "A Christmas Carol".
- Jim Broadbent who is Sam Gruber in the film played one of the Doctors in the 1999 charity special "Curse of the Fatal Death".
The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Department
- Sally Hawkins as Mary Brown was Willy Wonka's mother in Wonka
- Julie Walters as Mrs Bird was also Molly Weasley, the matriarch of the Weasley family, in the Harry Potter film series, and she was one Donna's band mates in the Mamma Mia films.
- Barry the security guard was played by Simon Farnaby; Simon is a creator, writer and star of the UK version of Ghosts and he also co-wrote Wonka and had a role in that film as... a security guard.
The "It's That Woman Who Is In Everything" Department
- Nicole Kidman is the evil taxidermist.
My God! Nicole Kidman is in EVERYTHING!!
Steve Martin once commented that he does not always recognize all the actors he meets so he usually says "I loved you in that thing you did with Nicole Kidman and 9 times out of 10, I'm right."
Back to Paddington, the movie is mostly family friendly (bears do die in this movie!) but it's not dumbed down. The filmmakers treat their kid audience with respect as they do with the adults watching this movie with those kids.
Or in the case of Andrea and myself, without them.
We will not a little thing like not having kids in the house stop us from seeing a kid friendly movie. Back in the 1990's, before Andrea and I were parents, we paid money to see Rugrats the Movie in a theater. (I am NOT making that up.)
Tomorrow is a Doctor Who post and I'll be back next weekend with another movie post (or two).
Until then, remember to be good to one another.
Especially to talking bears who really like marmalade.
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