Should you go see “Paddington 2,” the semi-animated children’s film coming out on Friday, Jan. 12? Yes, if you’re a child. Yes, if you’re not a child. And yes, if you’re a fan of the BBC’s “Top Gear” and Amazon’s “The Grand Tour.”
But first, the movie. I never saw the original 2014 “Paddington” movie, and I’ve never read any of British author Michael Bond’s apparently charming books about “Paddington Bear,” but I loved “Paddington 2.” Ben Whishaw voices the little spectacled bear, who started in Peru and wound up living with the Brown family of West London, headed by Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville of “Downton Abbey” fame) and Sally Hawkins (last seen romancing a fish-man in “The Shape of Water”).
Paddington (named after the railway station where he was found) is unfailingly kind, polite and optimistic, and his great heart has made him beloved of (almost) everyone in his diverse urban neighborhood.
The integration of this CGI bear — complete with hat, duffle coat and Tardis-like suitcase (but not his signature wellies) — into an otherwise live-action movie is seamless, and the whole affair is utterly charming and lacking in that sort of frenetic busyness that infects too many kids’ films these days.
There’s a brief opening sequence that explains how Paddington, as an orphan cub, was rescued, and thereafter adopted, by two other spectacled bears: Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) and Uncle Pastuzo (Michael Gambon).
In the present day of “Paddington 2,” Uncle has shuffled off this mortal coil, but Aunt Lucy is approaching her 100th birthday. Missing her far away in Peru, Paddington decides to help her fulfill her bucket-wish list of visiting the U.K. capitol by buying her a vintage pop-up book of London landmarks.
First, though, he needs to earn some money. The series of odd jobs that follows provides ample amounts of Rube Goldbergian slapstick comedy.
On the darker side, there’s faded star actor Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), who’s got designs on the book for entirely different reasons. In one of many disguises, he steals it, leaving poor Paddington to take the blame.
Packed off to jail, Paddington tries to make the best of a bad situation by befriending the prison cook, Knuckles McGinty (Brendan Gleeson). Before long, through force of will — and immense skill at making marmalade — Paddington transforms the cranky convicts into purveyors of patisserie (rejoice, fellow “Great British Baking Show” fans).
While Paddington’s fellow prisoners take a break from baking to plot an escape, the Browns work to clear Paddington’s name.
The result is altogether delightful, heart-tugging (but not sappy) and hilariously funny.
There’s even a nod to faith, as St. Paul’s Cathedral and some nuns make cameo appearances.
But, you may say, what does this have to do with “Top Gear,” “The Grand Tour” and one of their gearhead hosts, the ever grumpy Jeremy Clarkson?
If you’re caught up on season two of “The Grand Tour” (Clarkson’s follow-up to “Top Gear,” with fellow hosts Richard Hammond and James May), Hugh Bonneville guested on the Christmas episode. As part of the celebrity-driving competition, he faced off with naturalist and grizzly BFF Casey Anderson for the title of “fastest person who lives with a bear.”
You’ll have to watch the episode to learn the outcome of that.
But, did you further know — which Clarkson strangely didn’t mention in the episode — that Clarkson and Paddington are intimately connected?
From the BBC:
[Clarkson’s parents] Shirley and Eddie Clarkson ran a small manufacturing business called Gabrielle Designs in the early ’70s, and they made the first Paddington toy bear as Christmas presents for their children Joanna and Jeremy (who was 12 at the time). In order to stop the bear falling over, Shirley put him in children’s wellingtons, and they stayed when the bear went into production, proving so popular that Gabrielle had to make their own special wellies with bear prints on the soles.
To this day you can still get Paddingtons in wellingtons, most notably from the kiosk in Paddington station, and it’s all thanks to the Clarksons.
Why Clarkson didn’t mention this while talking about the movie is quite beyond me. On top of all this, Michael Gambon, who voices Uncle Pastuzo, had a sharp turn named after him on the old “Top Gear” test track.
But, don’t let this lapse in Clarkson’s occasionally questionable judgment stop you from watching “The Grand Tour,” or, more importantly, going to see “Paddington 2” — the perfect cure for those post-Christmas blues.
Images: Courtesy Warner Bros., Amazon, Rebrn.com
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