Paddington

I loved the optimistic notion of "Aunt Lucy" when she convinces the young "Paddington" to travel from darkest Peru to London safe in the knowledge that the wartime spirit will soon see him adopted by a loving family and bathing in a sea of marmalade! His arrival at the eponymous London railway station after stowing away on a boat is certainly more akin to the arrivals I've made in this bustling terminus where nobody gives anyone else a second look, though. Luckily for our rare bear visitor, the late night arrival of the "Brown" family from a tour of a wool museum sees mum "Mary" (Sally Hawkins) take pity on our forlorn stranger. This is to the chagrin of her suspicious husband "Henry" (Hugh Bonneville), the indifference of headphone-clad daughter "Judy" (Madeleine Harris) but the enthusiasm of son "Jonathan" (Samuel Joslin). One night can't do any harm, surely? Of course we just know it's never going to be that simple but after a bit of a ropey start, the family begin to take a bit of a shine to their new lodger. Meantime, over at the Natural History Museum, it's chief taxidermist "Millicent" (Nicole Kidman) doesn't really mind from where she obtains her samples to display in the museum, and a chance conversion with her procurer reveals that this Peruvian bear is newly in town. What now ensues puts an whole new meaning on the expression "get stuffed" as we discover a little more about the provenance of both "Paddington" and his new, menacing, antagonist. It's great fun, this film, with plenty of slapstick comedy and strong performances from Bonneville and Hawkins as well as Peter Capaldi as the irritating neighbour, Julie Walters (just about) holds her Scots accent together as the sagely "Mrs Bird" and Kidman seems to be enjoying herself as a sort of cross between "Lara Croft" and "Hannibal Lector". Like the original Michael Bond (he does feature here briefly) stories, the sentiment is short on gloop but long on the characteristics of politeness, respect and decency and of course there's little jeopardy that our kindly ursine is gonna prevail. The production design and standard of animation is first rate, there's plenty of light-heartedness from the script and as family dramas go - this offers just about everyone something to smile about. As "Aunt Lucy" always says....