Paddington (2014)

I hadn't expected to see this, but people kept bringing up the title character in connection with Elizabeth II, because the filmmakers had them appear together in a short video to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. While she is not in either of his feature films, this viewing seemed an oddly decent way to pay my last respects to her.

The sudden demise of his uncle (Michael Gambon) prompts his elderly aunt (Imelda Staunton) to send the iconic young bear (Ben Whishaw) from their Peruvian jungle to London, where she hopes he'll find succor from the anonymous explorer (Tim Downie) who befriended them 40 years ago. The first hospitable human he meets is one Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins, who would later take special interest in another nonhuman). Since his given name is hard for humans to pronounce, she dubs him after the train station where they meet. Her husband, Henry (Hugh Bonneville), is reluctant to house Paddington even for one night, citing stranger danger to their kids, but Mary can be persuasive. As they search for the explorer, the explorer's daughter Millicent (Nicole Kidman) searches for Paddington -- to make a museum exhibit of his corpse.

If the first movie has one thing over the second, it's a greater focus on the distinct personalities of the Browns. I had already sensed that Henry used to resent Paddington; now I know that he'd been overprotective since the onset of fatherhood, while Mary largely retained her spirit of adventure. Preteen son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) craves far more excitement than Henry allows, but at least his educational toys pay off. Teen daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) is academically gifted but prone to deeming everyone in her home embarrassing. And Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters), who has been awkwardly changed from the housekeeper in the book series to an unspecified Brown relative, shows plenty of vivacity for her age. Among recurring characters outside the family, hostile neighbor Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi) unsurprisingly has a more important role this time around.

I had likened the sequel's main villain, Phoenix, to Cruella de Vil. Millicent is even more so in the way she'll stop at nothing to kill a cute, innocent animal, alternating primarily between impatient anger and mean joy. Granted, she's in it for the wealth and glory of the amoral Geographer's Guild, not a twisted taste in beauty. Her skills lie in resourcefulness. Alas, she's about half as much fun as Phoenix. Too one-note and derivative, perhaps?

Regardless, P1 feels a lot like P2 in its strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, Paddington remains charming yet clumsy in an almost brilliant fashion, with suitable CG rendering (and more growly noises than later, I believe). OTOH, the adult humans seldom act like real people, not least in their lack of surprise or fear toward Paddington despite the existence of anthropomorphic bears supposedly not being common knowledge. And the era is still ambiguous: The explorer seems to predate desktop computers by considerably more than 40 years.

I think P1 is a little more predictable and has a less intense climax. It might be marginally less funny and heartwarming. But I detect more workable lessons than I can recall from P2. Basically, if you like one of the flicks, you should like the other.