My Movie Review on Paddington (2014)
Salutations, my good friends.
This is your jolly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for my 120th film analysis, I'm gonna give you all my take on "Paddington".
Here's the summary of it:
After his home in Peru, South America is destroyed by a devastating earthquake, a young bear travels to London in search of a new place to stay.
Upon arriving in London, the bear meets a family called the Browns, who offer to help him find a home and give him a human name to go by: Paddington. He and Mrs. Brown begin the search for an explorer who visited his aunt and uncle in Peru a long time ago.
Meanwhile, a museum taxidermist named Millicent catches wind of Paddington's presence in London. Having a secret score to settle, she goes on an immediate hunt for Paddington in order to stuff him and add him to the museum's collection.
Will Paddington be able to avoid getting caught by Millicent? Or will he be the museum's newest exhibit?
Will Paddington and the Browns find the explorer? And even if they do, would they really want to leave one another?
Having wanted to review this movie since the very beginning, I really must say that this...IS AN ABSOLUTE 21ST CENTURY TREASURE! Even now, I find it to have a charm that doesn't cease to amaze me.
For instance, the direction and screenplay by Paul King, and the story by him and Hamish McColl, were outstanding! When it came to making a film that was truly amazing and worthwhile, King seriously didn't mess around.
The humor and comedy of the film was among what I found to be extremely well-done. The jokes were hilariously worked to a tee, and they had an innocence that helped them be far from mean-spirited, especially the jokes revolving around Paddington. Along with that, the film had a compelling emotional resonance that was strong enough to give Pixar a run for its money, and it had a great moral about love, family, loyalty, and kindness. I also enjoyed how King was able to make the film straightforward, but at the same time, give it a sense of complexity and intrigue; he got everything to tie together and have purpose too, even the littlest of details.
The special effects used with the bears were quite the brilliant eyecatchers, if I may add. In some ways, one could tell that the bears weren't real, but yet...it hardly mattered because they carried a remarkable sense of realism to help them be so alive. One instance definitely came from when Paddington gave Mr. Brown that hard stare.
The music by Nick Urata was magnificent as well. I'm not sure if he's the most well-known composer or if he did anything before this film, but his work here was great enough to put him in the top ten or twenty lists of best composers. The moments and songs done by that traveling band were what I found to be some of my favorite moments.
Finally, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were spectacular.
Ben Whishaw was literally born for the role of Paddington! He not only brought an incredible sense of innocence, warmth, and youth to the role, but the way he was able to get so physical with his voice alone translated so well into the character that it was like Paddington was more than a bear with Whishaw's voice. The character had great development too.
In addition, the rest of the characters were lovable and developed wonderfully throughout the film, with the performers taking on their parts like they were made for them. Nicole Kidman, might I add, did a brilliant job at making the character of Millicent an intimidating and fully-realized antagonist, with a sense of humor and classical vibe on the side.
In conclusion, "Paddington (2014)" is a cinematic gem that represents something that is nowadays rare: An innocent family-friendly comedy with sparks of creativity and imagination, along with a sense of love put into making it.
So, I rate "Paddington (2014)" five out of five stars.
