The Paddington Bear Movie

The Paddington Bear Movie of 2014 is a interesting take on the story of Paddington, originally written by Michael Bond. It’s not the same as any of the books but has retained all the characters and stays true to Paddington’s story.

The Gist of the Paddington Bear Movie

A British explorer visits deep dark Peru and meets Paddington’s Uncle and Aunt Lucy. Aunt Lucy is the one that is always referenced in the Paddington Bear Books. It is the British Explorer who teaches the bears English and the English way of life. He also extends an invitation to the bears to visit him in London should they ever leave Peru.

Following the death of his Uncle, Paddington Bear embarks on a journey to London. He lands up at Paddington Station and true to the books he is found by Mr and Mrs Brown. It is from here that the story changes.

Mr Brown is not that interested in having a bear to live with them. Paddington and Mrs Brown try find the old explorer so that Paddington can live with him. Unknown to Paddington and the Browns there is a taxidermist trying to get to Paddington so that she can stuff him and keep him in the Natural History Museum.

Paddington unknowingly lands up crossing paths with the taxidermist who drugs him and takes him to the museum for stuffing. The Brown family rush to his rescue and thankfully save him in time.

My summary of the story does sound really scary and yes Nicole Kidman plays quite a cold and calculating villain but the movie that happens around this plot is beautiful.

Scary Scenes

I will deal with the scariness of the movie first and then talk about the lovely parts.

All the scenes that Nicole Kidman are in are quite scary but it is her script as opposed to the scenes except for three particular scenes.

1. Paddington’s Uncle dies when there is an earthquake or some natural disaster. It’s a little scary with the noise and the scenes and its sad when Paddington and his aunt are okay but the Uncle is not .

2. Once Paddington gets to London, you are introduced to Nicole Kidman’s character. When you are introduced to her you see her surrounded by stuffed animals and talking about stuffing a poor little creature.

3. Paddington Bear leaves the Brown’s house and goes in search of the explorer alone. He comes across the taxidermist and from there is it quite scary with dark scenes.

The lovely parts of the Paddington Bear Movie

I was really surprised by this movie. It was nothing like I expected. Initially I wasn’t convinced about the way they had “made” Paddington but once I got into the movie I was enthralled.

The characters are lovely and the way the story is told is classic.

For some reason the movie reminds me a lot of the second Nanny McPhee there is a lot of colour and bright characters, some silliness but a lot of joy.

While there is no educational content there are lessons of love, diversity and tolerance and acceptance. Paddington helps bring the Brown family back together and help them understand each other.

Age Suitability

Both my 2 year old and my 4 year old loved it but in hindsight I wouldn’t have let my 2 year old watch it because Nicole Kidman is pretty scary.

What is interesting is that my sister tried to get my kids to watch it last year and neither of them were interested at all but this year my son watched the whole thing.

I would say that this movie is best suited to kids 4 and a half or 5 years plus.