Paddington 2

Like most sequels to runaway boxoffice hits, this follow-up to 2014’s Paddington ups the ante by kicking off with a dramatic rescue sequence and concluding with a chase atop a moving train. But fans needn’t worry: given how gentle, whimsical and charming the first film was, even ratcheting up the spectacle a notch or two doesn’t mean it’s gone all Marvel. Indeed the marmaladeloving bear from deepest, darkest Peru (voiced once again by Ben Whishaw) remains a quieter, more modest hero, with returning director Paul King doubling down on the things that made the first one such a success: the sense of warmth; the sense of inclusivity; the wild flights of imagination — and the goofily constructed jokes that will likely have under-12s in stitches. But this also has Hugh Grant as the villain. Playing a faded stage actor so hammy he’s practically honey glazed, Grant is a hoot: a riot of pantomime awfulness as he frames Paddington for theft – a plot that sees the ursine immigrant sent down for ten years on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence. Continuing the last film’s sweet-tempered ode to the value of multiculturalism, the plot may be about as substantial as one of Paddington’s marmalade sandwiches, but the film is so lacking in cynicism it’s hard not to be won over by the duffel-coat-sporting furball.