Paddington 2
I enjoyed the first Paddington film, but the sequel was a massive disappointment.
The key to ‘family’ films like this is to include enough cuteness & slapstick to wow the children, yet also enough story & wit to enthral the adults.
Rottentomatoes gives Paddington 2 a 100% Critics Score, so I was rather looking forward to it, but sadly this is 100% a kids film with almost nothing for adults to enjoy. There are a couple of half-decent gags, but for the most part it’s weak. It may be a whimsical fantasy, but it’s simply not realistic within its own world. Whilst a few aspects are perhaps true to the style of the original books (the barbershop, for example) much of it is just utterly … impawsible.
The entire prison aspect for one. How on earth would a prison suddenly acquire 1,000 fresh oranges? Utterly ridiculous. This section could’ve been SO much better. Had Paddington somehow needed to find someone to supply these oranges, to somehow smuggle one thousand of the fruit into a high-security penitentiary, then you have a more gripping plot. Heroes become so by overcoming challenges and earning rewards/respect, and P-Bear had enough friends on the outside to make something like that happen. But sadly the writers couldn’t even be bothered.
Smarter than your average bear.
Frankly, this film was just weak, boring, and unfunny. Something the original Paddington never was. Its success merely serves to prove that humans aren’t nearly as smart as your average bear.