Live-action Paddington movie puts modern twist on beloved children's tale

PADDINGTON
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Nicole Kidman, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville
Director: Paul King
Category: I

The makers of Paddington deserve a bear hug (and maybe some marmalade sandwiches, too). Based on the Michael Bond book series that began in 1958, the new live-action adaptation by writer-director Paul King and Harry Potter producer David Heyman provides a delightful modern twist to the beloved children's story. Even devotees of the '70s stop-motion TV shorts should warm to this CGI-enhanced version.

After an earthquake has destroyed his home in "darkest Peru", a bear cub is instructed by his aunt to smuggle himself to London and find a new home there. But though he was promised hospitality in the capital by an English explorer some 40 years ago, the present reality proves thoroughly different, as the furry protagonist (voiced by Ben Whishaw) is ignored by commuters at the Paddington railway station.

That is, until Mrs Brown (Sally Hawkins) and her family decide to name the bear and adopt him in their Windsor Gardens townhouse. There's the customary initiation for the immigrant: the first thing Paddington does is to wreck the toilet and agitate Mr Brown (Hugh Bonneville), a risk analyst who lost his adventurous spirit with the birth of his two kids.

It nevertheless doesn't take long for the ursine orphan's bumbling ways to win the hearts of the Browns, who keenly help him look for the explorer. Meanwhile, a vengeful taxidermist, Millicent (Nicole Kidman in a dominatrix outfit that might have partially incurred the "mild sexual references" warning from the British censors), is hell-bent on stuffing the bear for the National History Museum's collection.

While it's episodic and too silly at times, this family comedy has thankfully transcended its old-fashioned British manners with some of the funniest gags you'll see in the festival season.