DOINGPORRIDGE
Paddington joins Brendan Gleeson in jail for fun sequel
‘Knuckles McGinty looks like he is going to turn Paddington into a bear pie’
Paddington 2 Cert G 1hr 35mins
Dust off your duffel coats and break out the marmalade sandwiches – Paddington is back for another white-knuckle ride on the big screen. After seeing off Nicole Kidman’s ice-cold taxidermist Millicent Clyde in the blockbuster first film three years ago, which went on to become the highest-grossing non-Hollywood family film of all time, the little bear from darkest Peru is off on another adventure – and this time he ends up in jail.
Once again Ben Whishaw, 37, who plays gadgets expert Q in the James Bond films, voices Paddington. He’s joined by all the regular cast from the first film, with Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins returning as the kindly Mr and Mrs Brown, who agreed to take Paddington in to keep their children happy after they found him at London’s Paddington railway station with a note saying ‘Please look after this bear’. Julie Walters is back as busybody housekeeper Mrs Bird, Jim Broadbent returns as eccentric antiques dealer Mr Gruber and Peter Capaldi plays the Browns’ snooping neighbour Mr Curry once again.
New to the cast as the two ‘baddies’ are Hugh Grant, playing a narcissistic film idol called Phoenix Buchanan who’s out to make trouble for Paddington, and Brendan Gleeson as the huge and terrifying cook at the prison where Paddington finds himself incarcerated.
And of course there’s Paddington himself – and if anything the computer-generated bear looks even more life-like than he did in the first film.
Paddington finds himself in prison when he’s wrongly accused of theft. ‘He lands himself in trouble when he sets out to buy his Aunt Lucy a present for her 100th birthday back in Peru,’ says producer David Heyman.
When Paddington discovers a rare pop-up book about London in Mr Gruber’s shop that he thinks his aunt will love, he sets about doing odd jobs to pay for it.
When it suddenly disappears from the shop, Phoenix pins the blame on Paddington, sending him to prison. But the Browns grow suspicious of Phoenix and break into his house, where they discover he’s a master of disguise. They realise he must have stolen the book, and the scene is set to try and spring Paddington from jail.
Meanwhile, poor Paddington is wallowing behind bars, where the irascible chef Knuckles McGinty (Brendan Gleeson) rules the roost. At one point it looks as though Knuckles is going to make a bear pie of Paddington when he complains about the food, but Paddington wins him over by introducing him to marmalade.
Much like the hilarious bathroom scene in the first film, where Paddington’s attempts to brush his teeth ended up with him flooding the bathroom and careering down the stairs in the tub, and the confusion that saw him steal a dog to carry down an escalator, he gets into more scrapes that spiral out of control. He has problems with a ladder while doing a spot of window cleaning to earn money to buy the book, gives someone a disastrous haircut when he’s mistaken for a barber, and there’s a wild set-piece finale.
Sadly, Michael Bond, the creator of the Paddington books, died this year aged 91 while this second film was being made. ‘He was very supportive. He loved the first film so much,’ says David. ‘There was a wonderful cartoon of Paddington taking Michael to the Pearly Gates, saying “Please look after this author”. It was really sweet. Michael had been poorly for a while but he had a very good life and left a marvellous legacy.’
Surprisingly it took nine years to get the first film made, because every British studio passed it up until the French-owned StudioCanal leapt at it, and have duly been rewarded with its global success.
What David finds so appealing about the Paddington stories are their ‘old-fashioned values – decency and loyalty – the values we try to live by now. It’s the story of the outsider, being an immigrant. We’re all outsiders in our own way, so Paddington feels like a character we can all relate to.’
Paddington 2 will be shown in cinemas nationwide from Friday.