Opinion Piece- The Paddington Franchise is Perfect

My experience with the Paddington franchise didn't actually begin until this year so I'm still coming from a fairly novice place but let me break down my love for theses films. When the first one came out, I was still very cynical and fully believed that a film like Paddington was just for kids and that I shouldn't waste my time with it. Many told me it was good but I felt I had "more important" films to watch. Cut to the release of Paddington 2 and I was again hearing really good stuff but wasn't all that interested. That changed when my Film tutor came in one week raving about it but having not seen the first film, I felt I'd missed the boat. My chance came around when the campus cinema showed Paddington 2 though and I thought I'd catch up on the first one and then see the new one. Dear God, what a delightful weekend I had.

I'll break them down one film at a time then, starting (obviously) with the first Paddington. It re-positions the story of Paddington Bear, a bear from darkest Peru who loves Marmalade, in a modern setting. After an incident back home, Paddington heads to England, hoping to see the city that an explorer promised to show his Aunt and Uncle but discovers a modern world much different to what he expected. In meeting the Brown family, he turns their world upside down on his quest to prove that the explorer really did exist, while being hunted by a scene-chewing Nicole Kidman as a taxidermist. There's great action, delightful comedy and a warm beating heart at the centre of it all, leaving you realising that you've seen a family film made with more care and love than any others in a damn long time that will just happily reference Shakespeare constantly. You feel the characters have all grown over the course of the film and you walk away smiling giddily.

So then you reach Paddington 2. Initially I was worried because sometimes sequels can reset characters to bring conflict back after resolution in the first film but Paddington 2 doesn't do that. Sure, conflict arises anew but they're all based on where we left our characters; getting over boyfriends, new classes at school and a mid-life crisis. What is also interesting in Paddington 2 though is that it feels like more of an adventure movie, choosing to move away from London on an adventure to get a pop-up book for Aunt Lucy. There is also an even better villain in Hugh Grant as a slightly delirious and very desperate actor but that's not the only thing that's been ratcheted up. It's funnier, more visually inventive and that heart has grown even larger in three years. In the last scene, I figured out what was going to happen quite quickly and started crying with joy. The events start to play out, I was confirmed right and I wept tears of joy. I genuinely believe that Paddington 2 is a perfect movie for all these reasons.

As I've touched on, what really sets these films apart is that you can feel genuine love being put into every aspect of these two films. What I remember thinking, specifically during the second film, was how this film has a better understanding of Chekov's Gun than most other films that exist, not even restricting that to family films. The opening sets up character traits or activities the characters are all involved in and every single one of them pays off by the end of the film. I also love the art direction of the films and how they're so beautifully shot and crafted. One of the key things I always go to when I think about these films is those wonderful cross section shots of the house that makes it look like a beautiful dolls house. This is the kind of love for cinema you see in French New Wave movies, not some family film. We've had all but confirmed that there will be a third Paddington movie to close out the trilogy and I cannot wait to see it, especially if it has even close to this amount of love, hard work and heart poured into it. Please watch these films, they're astonishing.