Paddington

Plot

In the deep jungles of Peru, a British explorer discovers two members of a rare, unknown species of bear, and learns that they are intelligent, capable of human speech, and have a deep fondness for marmalade. He names them Lucy and Pastuzo and gives them his hat as he leaves, telling them that they are always welcome in London. About 40 years later, after Pastuzo is killed by an earthquake, Lucy encourages their orphaned nephew to travel to London while she moves into the Home for Retired Bears.

The cub arrives in London after stowing away on a cargo ship and reaches Paddington station. He meets the Brown family, who take him home and name him after the station they found him in. The father Henry disbelieves Paddington's story and initially does not want to help him, but his wife Mary, their adventurous son Jonathan, their multilingual but unconfident daughter Judy and their housekeeper Mrs Bird come to find Paddington endearing.

Paddington thinks he can find a home with the explorer who met Lucy and Pastuzo, but does not know his name. Mary takes Paddington to Samuel Gruber, an antique shop owner, who discovers that the hat bears the stamp of the Geographers' Guild. After they are initially denied access to the Guild archive, Paddington sneaks in, with Mr Brown helping him by dressing up as a cleaning woman to distract the guard. Paddington learns from the Guild archive that an expedition to Peru was undertaken by an explorer named Montgomery Clyde, but the Guild erased their record of it.

Meanwhile, Millicent Clyde, a taxidermist at the Natural History Museum, learns of Paddington's existence and sets out to find him, wishing to add him to her collection. Scheming with the Browns' next-door neighbour, Mr Curry, Millicent sneaks in while the Browns are out and attempts to capture Paddington. As he defends himself, he inadvertently starts a fire, and when Henry and Mary disbelieve Paddington's version of events, he leaves the house and attempts to find Montgomery Clyde himself, using a phone book to track down every "M. Clyde" in London.

Paddington eventually finds Millicent and learns that Montgomery was her father. Driven by resentment towards her father for refusing to bring a Peruvian bear home, Millicent lures Paddington back to the museum and tranquillises him. Mr Curry discovers Millicent's true intentions and warns the Browns, who come to Paddington's rescue and manage to defeat her; she is sentenced to community service in her father's petting zoo, and the Browns allow Paddington to stay in their house permanently.

Production

The film was first announced in September 2007, with David Heyman producing and Hamish McColl writing the screenplay. Further developments were not made until September 2013, when filming began and Heyman announced the casting of Colin Firth as Paddington. With a budget of €38.5 million ($50–55 million), Paddington is the most expensive film produced by the French production company StudioCanal. Principal photography and production began on 13 September 2013.

Filming locations for Paddington were mostly in West London. The Paddington Station scenes were mostly filmed inside London Paddington station, although the exterior establishing shot used the front entrance of nearby Marylebone Station in Marylebone. Exterior shots of the Brown family home in Windsor Gardens were shot in Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill. Scenes in Mr Gruber's shop were filmed inside an antique shop on Portobello Road, and the skateboard chase sequence was filmed in Portobello Road Market and Maida Vale. For the fictional Tube station, Westbourne Oak, three separate locations were used: the entrance hall at Maida Vale tube station, on the escalators inside St John's Wood tube station, and on the disused Jubilee line platforms in Charing Cross tube station. The exterior and entrance hall of the Reform Club on Pall Mall served at the location for the Geographers' Guild, while the other interior scenes were filmed inside Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Museum scenes were shot at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, and a house on Downshire Hill in Hampstead served as the home of Millicent Clyde.

In June 2014, after principal photography had wrapped, Firth voluntarily dropped out of the film, after the studio decided his voice was not suitable for Paddington. The role was recast the following month, with Ben Whishaw signing on to voice the title role. Paddington was created using a combination of motion capture and CGI animation (by the British visual effects company Framestore).

In the Ukrainian dub, Paddington was voiced by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who went on to become the president of Ukraine.

Soundtrack

Nick Urata composed the film's soundtrack. Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams were commissioned to write a song for the film's American release, which turned into "Shine".

Release

Video game

A video game based on the film, titled Paddington: Adventures in London, was released on 11 August 2015 for Nintendo 3DS and is published by Anuman Interactive through their Kids' Mania label.

Home media

Paddington was released on Blu-ray, DVD and streaming on 23 March 2015 in the UK, and on 28 April 2015 in the United States by The Weinstein Company Home Entertainment.

Reception

Classification

In November 2014, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the film a PG certificate for its UK release and advised parents that the film contained "dangerous behaviour, mild threat, mild sex references [and] mild bad language." Paul King, the film's director, told BBC reporter Tim Muffett: "I'm not surprised about that [the PG certificate] but I don't think it's a PG for sexiness. That I would find very odd." Paddington's creator, Michael Bond, said he was "totally amazed" at the BBFC's advice. After the film's distributor challenged the certification, the BBFC revised the wording of its parental guidance, replacing "mild sex references" with "innuendo". It also further qualified the "mild bad language" as "infrequent", saying it referred to "a single mumbled use of 'bloody'."

Box office

Paddington was released on 28 November 2014 in the United Kingdom, where it took in $8 million (£5.1 million) on its opening weekend, and topped the box office for two weeks. It was StudioCanal's highest opening and the second-highest 2014 family film debut in the country behind The Lego Movie. For the week ending 9 December 2014 it topped the box office in France. For the week ending 24 December 2014 it topped the box office in Australia.

The film was released in the United States on 16 January 2015. The film opened to third place in its first weekend, earning $19.0 million, behind American Sniper and The Wedding Ringer, and closed with a total of $76.3 million.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 163 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The website's consensus reads: "Paddington brings a beloved children's character into the 21st century without sacrificing his essential charm, delivering a family-friendly adventure as irresistibly cuddly as its star." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Upon its UK release, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, saying: "the new CGI-live-action Paddington Bear could easily have been another garish, cheapo Brit-movie. Instead, writer-director Paul King ... and co-writer Hamish McColl have created a charming and sweet-natured family film, full of wit and fun, skewed towards young children but cheekily speckled with sly gags pitched at the older audience." Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent called it a "film of considerable charm but one undermined by a very bitty and flimsy screenplay. Writer-director Paul King has more flair for comic set-pieces than he does for sustained narrative."

IndieWire said critics were "pleasantly surprised" and that the film was "hailed for its warm-heartedness and playful sense of humor ... and Whishaw's charming performance". Guy Lodge of Variety praised it for "honouring the everyday quirks of Bond's stories, while subtly updating their middle-class London milieu". Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying: "It's a relief to report that the final film is actually quite charming, thoughtful and as cuddly as a plush toy, albeit one with a few modern gizmos thrown in." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave the film a B, saying: "If the film seems head-and-shoulders above the average effects-driven family-matinee flick, it's because it never gives the impression that it's trying to be anything more (or less) than good-natured and fun to watch." Jason Clark of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A−, saying: "A gloriously whimsical big-screen debut that's closer to the madcap spirit of the Muppets and the lovingly rendered style of a Wes Anderson film than to standard multiplex family fodder." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three out of four stars, saying: "Paddington's journey from South America to London is just droll enough for adults – qualifying as a gentle parable about xenophobia – and exuberant enough for the youngest viewers." Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times gave the film three out of five stars, saying: "Paddington is, ultimately, about how a newcomer can become part of a family, and about how good manners and marmalade can get you out of any tricky situation – delightful messages, at any age." Bruce Demara of the Toronto Star gave the film three out of four stars, saying: "It's a relief to say that – as films based on fictional animals go – Paddington is better than merely bearable."

Franchise

Sequels

A sequel to the film was released on 10 November 2017 in the United Kingdom. David Heyman returned to produce. Paul King returned to direct and co-wrote the sequel with Simon Farnaby. A second sequel titled Paddington in Peru, was released on 8 November 2024 in the United Kingdom, with Dougal Wilson taking over as director.

Television series

On 9 October 2017, it was announced that StudioCanal were producing an animated television series called The Adventures of Paddington. The series launched worldwide on Nickelodeon in 2020, with Whishaw reprising his voice of Paddington.