Even prison can’t break Paddington
Paddington 2 is that rare creation that somehow improves on its already charming predecessor.
Maybe it’s the addition of Hugh Grant as a lunatic faded star desperate for some cash to get his one-man show going, Brendan Gleeson as a moody prison chef named Knuckles McGinty, a totally random dance routine during the credits, or just the sheer earnestness of it all, but Paddington 2 is a total delight.
Paul King returns as director and co-writer for the sequel, which finds Paddington (voiced again by Ben Whishaw) living happily with the Brown family — Mary (Sally Hawkins), Henry (Hugh Bonneville), Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters). Paddington, through his Pollyanna positivity and Emily Post politeness, has turned their little candy-coloured neighbourhood into a friendly paradise.
Paddington goes on a mission after spotting a London pop-up book at an antique store that he thinks would be perfect to buy his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton), who is still in Peru and dreams of going to London.
But, it’s expensive and he needs a job in order to afford it. It’s an easy set-up for hijinks as he tries and fails at a few things. In a film that feels so effortless, this is a rare snag that’s a little forced and chaotic. Thankfully, it’s all building to something better.
At a fair, Paddington meets the actor Phoenix Buchanan (Grant), who was once a star and has now been reduced to doing dog-food commercials, and takes an unusual interest in the pop-up book Paddington mentions he’s saving up for. One night, Paddington notices a strange man breaking into the antique store that houses the coveted pop-up book, attempts to stop it and wrongly ends up in prison.
Pretty dark for a Paddington movie, but King keeps it positive (this is perhaps the brightest and cleanest prison you’ve seen on screen). And Paddington quickly charms his fellow inmates, and the grouchy chef.
Grant seems to be having the most fun he’s had in years on screen as the overly theatrical villain, who debates his devious plans with a room full of costumed mannequins (Hamlet and Scrooge among them).
Sally Hawkins also gets a nice spotlight as the eager-to-believe matriarch who is compelling enough to make you really trust that she’s possibly got a lead from a newsstand parrot about who framed Paddington.
Is it too lame to get wrapped up in the messages in a kid’s film? Paddington 2 has a lot of worthy ones. It is a cheerful, sweet movie, in which there is no problem that a marmalade sandwich won’t fix.