Paddington does porridge with a bit of help from Brendan...
The loveable bear stars in a family treat that’s as tasty as one of his own famous marmalade sandwiches...
THREE years have passed since everyone’s favourite (if most hapless) Peruvian immigrant made his bigscreen debut, in a charming, funny film that went down at the Irish box office like a marmalade sandwich in the paw of a hungry Duffel-coated bear.
This sequel, in which our ursine hero gets into all sorts of scrapes in pursuit of a 100th birthday present for his beloved Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) back in Peru, is even more delightful, if not such a joyful surprise.
The expectations set by the first film are squarely met, and ultimately exceeded, with a gloriously silly plot rather more appropriate than last time out, when Nicole Kidman’s villainous taxidermist wanted to kill Paddington and have him stuffed.
This time, the baddie is Phoenix Buchanan, an over-the-hill and narcissistic thespian, wedded to his silk cravat. His first name is deliberately ironic. Far from rising from the ashes, his career is turning to dust.
He is obsessed with past triumphs, not nearly as good an actor as he thinks he is, and is very gamely played by Hugh Grant.
When Paddington starts saving up to buy an antique pop-up book to send to Aunt Lucy, which he has found in the shop of his good friend Mr Gruber (Jim Broadbent), Buchanan realises the book, featuring 12 famous London landmarks, holds the key to the whereabouts of a longlost stash of priceless jewels.
If only he can find them, Buchanan will be able to fund his dream of a one-man show in the West End, and end the indignity of having to make TV dog-food commercials.
So he steals the book from Mr Gruber’s shop, then pins the theft on Paddington. The accident-prone bear is sentenced by a judge (Tom Conti) with an axe to grind, following a disastrous encounter in a hairdres
dressing salon. Paddington duly goes prison. Back in Windsor Gardens, where he has become immensely popular with everyone but horrid Mr Curry Peter Capaldi), a campaign gathers pace to exonerate him. But poor old Paddington still spends much of the film behind bars, although that’s OK because he wins over even the nastiest of the jailbird prisoners with his unique brand of polite bonhomie, not to mention lashings of marmalade, and when absolutely necessary, a hard stare.
Brendan Gleeson is marvellous as Knuckles McGinty, the fearsome cook who foists disgusting porridge on his fellow inmates and lives by the snarling credo: ‘I don’t do nothing for no one for nothing.’ ‘I beg your pardon,’ says Paddington.
There are lots of starry cameos, from Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins and Meera Syal among others. Hugh Bonneville and (the especially wonderful) Sally Hawkins reprise their roles as Mr and Mrs Brown, with Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin again playing the Brown children.
Julie Walters is back as housekeeper Mrs Bird, and Ben Whishaw has reprised his role as the duffelcoat-wearing bear and does a lovely job of voicing Paddington.
However, most of the credit belongs to Paul King, who again directs and co-writes, and is better-served this time by the clever folk in the specialeffects department.
The lip-synching is conspicuously slicker than it was three years ago, when Paddington looked a tiny bit creepy, and a little too vulpine.
As for what remains of the plot; well, naturally our hero gets out of prison, and Buchanan gets his comeuppance (make sure you wait until the end-credits start to roll for one final opportunity to see Grant sending himself up).
There is lots to appeal to young audiences and plenty of laugh-outloud lines destined to sail over their heads, but what a shame the film wasn’t released in time for half-term, or held back for the Christmas holidays.
And while that seems almost Paddington-esque in its cack-handedness, I expect it will gather momentum between now and the festive season. It really is a terrific family treat.
A more regrettable piece of timing was entirely unavoidable. The film comes out less than six months after the death of Michael Bond, aged 91, who created Paddington Bear almost 60 years ago.
It’s a very sad thing that he didn’t live to see the finished film. But it, but it is dedicated to him, of course, and there could hardly be a finer epitaph than this hit.