The bear is carnivorous, but it can also be cute and cuddly, as Paddington 2 – following up on its hugely successful earlier instalment of 2014 – tells us over a delightful and rapturous 102 minutes of fun-filled fantasy. The marmalade-loving Paddington Bear (adroitly voiced once again by the talented Ben Wishaw), is now firmly ensconced into the Brown family, led by patriarch Henry (Hugh Bonneville).
For those who missed the 2014 film, the opening set piece shows how our furry friend was adopted by bears Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo. To repay the debt, Paddington plans to gift her now 100-year-old aunt a vintage popup book on London, a city she’s never visited. The book’s prohibitive price of £500 finds Paddington doing odd-jobs to save money for it. But the book is stolen from Mr. Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) antique shop and our furry protagonist is arrested for the crime.
The film’s more tender and engaging moments arise in the prison, where the brutish chef (Brendon Gleeson) turns sympathiser in order to help Paddington find the real thief. Besides Paddington, the key player in the setup is the master of disguises Phoenix Buchanan (a fine performance by the talented Hugh Grant), a has-been star of West End.
This family film has an ensemble of well-known British actors as Paddington’s neighbours who vouch for his integrity in court. Director and co-writer Paul King has done a tremendous job of weaving benign and sympathetic elements in a story from which humans could imbibe too. The 1958 ursine creation of Michael Bond who passed away at 91 on the penultimate day of this sequel’s filming, is as much to be admired for its simplicity as for its humanity, a trait found wanting in our two-legged beings.