Film: Paddington
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent Nicole Kidman,Peter Capaldi, Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Jonathan Brown
Director: Paul King
Taxidermists are an endangered species in India and they’re nothing at all like the evil creature who has designs on Paddington, the rare bear from “darkest Peru” (voiced by Ben Whishaw) Nosireee. Mad Millicent (played by Nicole Kidman) is poles apart from the late, great birdwatcher Brother Navarro who single-handedly built the natural history museum at St Xavier’s School on Carnac Road aka Lokmanya Tilak Marg.
In Paul King’s heart-warming live action animated toon based on the bestselling children’s books by Michael Bond, the object of Millicent’s dastardly affections sails to the green and pleasant climes of England in search of a home and finds himself destitute in London until he is adopted by Henry and Mary Brown (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins) and their two children (Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin).
That’s the story in a nutshell of this heart-warming film which should have been released at Christmas. Better later than never I say. But this movie is more than just a kiddie’s tale about the cuddly bear who gets his name from the London train station, where he is befriended by the kindly Mary Brown, much to the chagrin of her hubby, Hugh. Paddington is a metaphor for the stranger, the outsider or the mlench as he/her is known in our own fair land. In King’s warm, witty and wildly entertaining reboot, Paddington is the stranger who is welcomed, and loved. As a character says in the film, “Anyone in London can fit in.” (I say, leave the ghetto mentality behind.)
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Ronita Torcato