Nicole Kidman Tribute: Paddington (2014)

by Nick Taylor

I’m going to tell you a secret: I think the first Paddington movie is better than its more critically-adored sequel. Not in every way is this one better: There’s a couple instances of harsh overlighting that take out some shots at the knees, like a key character emerging from a phone booth as a one-sided meet-cute. You could also say that both films - but maybe especially this one - are leaning into Wes Anderson-type confectionaries, especially with the score. But Paddington’s got a lot of buoyant, colorful entertainment to recommend it, and I can’t help but feel Nicole Kidman’s delightful, icy villainess has been overlooked as one of this series’ most notable achievements, alongside the children’s-book palette, Hugh Grant’s more lauded performance in Paddington 2, and fumbling the bag on Sally Hawkins for the upcoming trip to Peru...

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"Paddington 2" Review

By Spencer Coile  

In theory, the first Paddington film, inspired by the Michael Bond books about a loveable bear who sports a red hat blue coat and has a penchant for marmalade, was a dangerous idea. Live-action modern tellings of classic children’s literature always runs the risk of flying off the rails – look no further than the 2003 disaster, The Cat in the Hat.

Cat in the Hat, Paddington fortunately was not. If anything, Paul King’s 2015 film provided a delightful, and importantly, timely tale about finding a place to call home. Appreciative audiences were struck with its whimsical but mature comparisons to immigration and acceptance of the Other. And luckily, fans of the first film will be pleased to know that Paddington 2 not only lives up to its predecessor, but improves upon it...

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