Paddington Film Review

There are some films that alot of people just never get round to watching and yet through good word of mouth and the fact that in the case of this film they spawn an entire franchise they do eventually get round to watching. This was the case with me and this film as until last year i'd never seen any of the Paddington films and yet I watch both the first and second one over the Christmas holidays and well now I thought that it was about time that I review the first film and so then join me as I review the film that really brings a beloved bear to life with the film in question being called simply just "Paddington" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a young bear arrives in London he finds himself being targeted by someone who want him stuffed and it's up to him and his family to stop her before it's to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally tought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good as while the films plot isn't as simple as the books might have been and that the 1975 TV series was this time it doesn't need to be as simple as either one of those are as this is a movie and therefor it requires a plot that's befitting a film to this end this is wear the films plot really does shine as it's epic enough to be the plot of a film and yet at the same time it also doesn't loose any of the charm that made the original stories so well beloved in the first place with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film wanted to tell a story that not only honored the original stories but also updated them a bit and while that might sound like a bad thing it's not in this case as the only things that really get updated are the setting and that's it but to be fair tho this is a film that really could have used a much more stronger as due to the film not really focusing all that much on it's main plot it does get hard to tell just what the main plot of the film is meant to be with the film being more focused on showing us Paddington then it was in giving us a more focused plot and that does make sense as he is the main character of the film but at the same time there should have been equal focus on the films plot as well with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Hugh Bonneville as Henry Brown , Sally Hawkins as Mary Brown and Dame Julie Walters as Mrs Bird. Also starring in this film is Jim Broadbent as Samuel Gruber , Peter Capaldi as Mr Curry , Matt Lucas as Joe , Kayvan Novak as Grant , Madeleine Harris as Judy Brown , Samuel Joslin as Jonathan Brown , Sir Michael Gambon as the voice of Uncle Pastuzo , Dame Imelda Staunton as the voice of Aunt Lucy , Simon Farnaby as Barry , Tim Downie as Montgomery Clyde , Madeleine Worrall as Agatha Clyde , Nicole Kidman as Millicent Clyde and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington Bear.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the fact that this film has some really good acting in it not really being all that surprising as the film is chock full to the brim with some really good actors and therefor of course the films acting will be really good however this doesn't just end with the films more adult actors tho as even the films two child actors do turn in some really good performances and really aren't that annoying in the slightest way possible with the films best actor of course being Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington Bear as right from the moment that he utters his first line of dialog as the character Ben just simply is the character of Paddington as he has that natural curiosity that Paddington himself has with with Ben helping to make this version of the character even more lovable then what he already is as the character with him doing such a good job in the role that he's the only actor to reprise his role in the spin-off show The Adventures Of Paddington with him even reprising the role in short films as well with him getting better at playing the character each and everytime with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film. 

Doing the CGI for this film is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Framestore , Double Negative , One Of Us , Munky and MTVFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good With the films CGI having aged really well in the ten years since the film first came with Paddington himself looking really good with the character having some lifelike looking fur and while there does have to be some suspension of disbelief when it comes to making the character talk the effect of him talking does look pretty decent but in saying that tho there some effects that do look a little to fake with the film making great use of CGI backgrounds alot of the time with that being something that does take you out of the film with even Paddington himself looking a little off here and there in a few shots in the film but overall the films effects do look really good with the only using CGI when it has and not when the makers of this film wanted to as there was no way that you could do Paddington as a character in a life action form as the character would still need emote and get across what he's feeling and thinking and so there will always be some level of CGI done to his character and that point you might as well just go full CGI with him with the thing that helps to make this films CGI so good is the fact that it blends in really well with the films live action elements thus making it harder alot of the time to tell what was real and what was done in a computer.

Whilst Paddington is one half of the lead characters of the film and is of course the films title character it could be argued that the other leading character in this film is that of Mr Brown. As out of all of the members of the Brown family he is the one that goes through the biggest character shift as he does from outright hating Paddington to begrudgingly helping him seek out the explorer that his Aunt and Uncle met many years ago to actually excepting him as a member of his family and while his reasons for not liking and later not trusting Paddington are completely justified as he does bring danger to the house and even burns down there kitchen at one point it's clear that Mr Browns actions altho a little bit misguided do come from a good place as he's only trying to look after his wife and kids as they are the most important thing in the world to him and therefor when he does confront Millicent on the roof of the Natural History Museum and tells her that Paddington is family and that family always looks after each other and loves each other no matter what you can tell that he really does mean as he's had that moment in the film to really make sure that Paddington is perfect not only for himself but also more importantly for the family as a whole with even the family being a bit of an improvement of the 1975 versions of them with Judy being the stereotypical pre-teen who is always embarrassed by her perents and Jonathan being kind of like Bart Simpson in that he wants to take risks and do these dangerous things that his father won't approve off with even Mrs Brown getting an upgrade as here she writes and illustrates books all of which do feel like really nice and well done additions to the characters and heck even Mr Brown gets a job as here he's a safety analyst.

Where the film does faulter somewhat was how they used the side characters as all of the films side characters apart from Mr Curry play no big role in the plot of the film. Which it makes it pointless to cast big named stars in those roles as you very easily could have cast a smaller unknown actor in the role of either Joe or Samuel Gruber and nothing would need to be changed and heck even in the original animated series Mr Gruber pretty much acts as Paddington's best friend more often then not helping him out of sticky situations where as here he only gets one scene and that's it this is despite the fact that he's played by a very well known actor who is wonderful in the part and while of course not all of the films characters are going to be used well but when you go out of your way to cast these really well known actors in those roles it is kind of expected that the characters would either be in the film more or would have a bigger role in the plot of the film and that's it and yet both Joe and Samuel Gruber disappear from the film entirely and while it makes sense that Je wouldn't be in the film all that much as his only purpose was to not only get the Browns and Paddington to Windsor Gardens but to then tell Millicent where they are and that's really it Samuel Gruber could have played a bigger role by helping him track down the explorer that Paddington is looking for which given that he's into antiques would be something that his character would do and yet the film just forgets all about him which fair enough he's not a man character in the film but given that he's meant to be a friend of Mary's he is a character that could have popped more then what he does in the film. 

Millicent as a villain was to be frank a pretty weak villain which is something that is both a good and bad thing. It's a bad thing for all of the obvious reasons as she doesn't really do all that much that affects the plot of the film for a good long while and therefor doesn't have the time to make an impact outside of the fact that she's being portrayed by Nicole Kidman and that's really it but on the flip side of the fact that her being a weak villain is also a good thing as it's more in keeping with the tone of the original Paddington books something which the makers of this film are trying to replicate and with the books not having the most well rounded characters something that you can also tell in the original 1975 series as well it does make sense that she would be a weak villain in this film and while yes it would have been nice to see a more stronger villain for Paddington and the family go up against this is a case where the villain being more weaker in character actually helps the film out quite alot as this is a franchise that really doesn't need to have strong villains to make it's heroes all the more better as the heroes themselves are already really likable and in the case of Paddington really loveable characters with even Millicents plan of performing taxidermy on Paddington being one that's oddly fitting for this film as it's just dark enough for it to work as a villains plan but it's also light enough for it work in a kids family film with the fact that she does have a clear end goal in mind also being something that does help her to be with even the fact that she seduces a hapless Mr Curry into helping her being something that's quite entertaining in it's own right.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty five minuets and seven seconds. Which is a really solid running time for this film to have with the film even having the right amount of plot to really cover that running time how tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely tho as the film doesn't fully develop it's plot all that well with the makers being more concerned about telling how things like how Paddington got his hat , coat and love of Marmalade instead of using that time to fully develop it plot as those are things that we don't need to know how he got them as the magic and charm of the character would allow us to just look past it as all those scenes do is eat up valuable screen time screen time which the film really can't afford to use up due to to it having a small running time with this even being true for the films characters as while characters like Mr Brown and Paddington get some character development that's only because of the fact that there the lead characters of the film with none of the other characters like Judy , Mrs Bird and Jonathan for example not getting anything interms of character development this is despite the fact that all of them and Mrs Brown are important characters in their own right and while there not done as badly as Mr Gruber is for example there also not done as well as Mr Brown but in all fairness tho the charm of the film is more then enough to make to make you forgive the film for it's lack of character development as the film and it's characters are really charming but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films jokes being really cute jokes that much like the films plot and characters are really charming with there even being alot of really funny jokes that really do make this film worth watching with the best example of this also being the films best joke as in one scene Paddington is in the Browns bathroom when he sees two toothbrushes which he thinks are for cleaning out your ears which he proceeds to use both of them for but the joke doesn't stop there tho as he even tries some of the ear wax that comes out of his ears only for him not to find to it to his liking with this joke even getting a callback as when he sees Mr Brown about to use them for there proper use Paddington opening says that he used that toothbrush to clean out his ears something which does disgust Mr Brown as the toothbrush in question is in his mouth which is a really funny joke and is something that does make a funny joke all the more funnier as while that joke does get lost in the whole bathroom scene which is a really funny scene in his own right with the whole film being filled to the brim of really cute jokes that will make alot of people laugh as that's how well funny that this films jokes are as they all do feel like jokes that these characters would make and yet at the same time there also not really childish either as there nothing more then just a bunch of funny jokes and that's really it in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall believe all the hype and all of the positive films that this film got as it really is that good of a film as it's a film that gets Paddington down perfectly with it going to show you that if you keep what made a character popular in the first place then they will always make good things with that being true for this film as they kept true to who Paddington is and we got a great film out of it in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then  i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that re in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 9.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Wikipedia , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.