All that, and Hugh Grant too: Succeeding Nicole Kidman on dastardly villain duty, the never-Limier thesp’s shriekingly funny self-parody very nearly knocks our ursine hero into a cocked, famously shapeless hat. “Paddington 2” remains a resolutely British creation, its antics bouncing from Victorian steam fairs to the futuristic glass planes of London’s Shard skyscraper, and suffused with a thoroughly indigenous spirit of japery - equal parts pantomime, music hall and Ealing comedy. Though the first film wound up grossing over $190 million worldwide, King and super-producer David Heyman still know which side their bread is buttered and slathered with the sticky orange stuff. screens on November 10 with the film, initially set to be distributed Stateside by The Weinstein Company property, now seeking an alternative home, one hopes further happy landings await the critter. Roaring box office awaits when “Paddington 2” hits U.K.
Conceived once more with bounding wit, kindness and visual imagination by writer-director Paul King, “ Paddington 2” is another near-pawfect family entertainment, honoring the cozy, can-do spirit of Bond’s stories while bringing them smoothly into a bustling, diverse 21st-century London - with space for some light anti-Brexit subtext to boot. Having already aced a challenging cinematic transition in his bright-eyed 2014 film debut, the plucky, duffel-coated furball now breezily defies the law of diminishing returns.
“Bears always fall on their feet.” So goes a running punchline in Michael Bond’s series of “Paddington” books, and so it proves in the second big-screen outing for one of Britain’s two most beloved literary bears - the one that subsists on marmalade rather than honey.