Why the Paddington movies make you believe in a better world

In early 2021, the unthinkable happened. Citizen Kane, an 80-year-old movie widely considered to be the greatest film ever made, lost its 100 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score.

What knocked it off its perch was a 1941 Chicago Tribune that had recently been unearthed and scanned as part of a Rotten Tomatoes archival project. The inclusion was fair game, a contemporaneous piece of criticism rather than a modern-day YouTuber looking to grab some headlines and notoriety as a contrarian.

Orson Welles’ work wasn’t the only title in the 100 club, others included The Terminator, Toy Story, Battleship Potemkin and The Maltese Falcon.

But the film with a perfect score that also had the highest volume of reviews was Paddington 2, which was immediately crowned as best movie of all time, as judged by the Tomatoscore, as flawed a metric as that may be.

There was a mix of reactions to the news that a sequel, no less, to a British children’s film had bested Citizen Kane. But those who expressed the most surprise had probably never seen Paddington 2. It really is a perfect gem of a film, no matter how old you are.

Paddington’s glory lasted one month before a negative 2017 review from Film Authority was added to the brew, bringing the film down to 99 per cent.

The Rotten Tomatoes affair had little real consequence in cultural memory but what it did was highlight to the uninitiated that you wrote off the Paddington movies at your own peril.

Created by Michael Bond and making his first appearance in print in 1958, Paddington has become a quintessential part of British culture. The anthropomorphic bear wears a signature blue duffel coat, a battered old red hat and has a deep love for marmalade.

He is unerringly polite – except when giving a hard stare to those who forget their manners – and unfailingly considerate. A little clumsy at times, leading to some mild shenanigans and misunderstandings, Paddington is always well-intentioned.

Paddington had been adapted for the screen since 1966 with multiple TV adventures but a big screen version wasn’t in serious conversation until 2007 when Harry Potter producer David Heyman and French production outfit StudioCanal announced it was developing a movie.

It took a while before filming started in 2013 but its trucks rolled up to many iconic London locations, including Paddington station (after which the bear is named), Portobello Market, and the Natural History Museum. Primrose Hill’s Chalcot Crescent stood in for Windsor Gardens, the home of the Browns.

Originally, Colin Firth had been hired to voice Paddington but, by mutual decision, dropped out and was replaced by the mellifluous tones of Ben Whishaw.

That first film, released in 2014, was an origin story. It recounted how Paddington travelled from “darkest Peru” to London in search of an explorer who had once told his Aunt Lucy that they would always be welcome in his home.

After stowing away in a cargo ship, he languishes on a platform at Paddington Station, which is where the Brown family find and name him. They take him home and despite the misgivings of half of them, soon become part of the clan.

It’s a story that’s partly about found family, partly a fish-out-of-water adventure and a caper involving a dastardly taxidermist (played by Nicole Kidman, having an absolute ball) who wants to capture, kill and stuff Paddington as a way to get back at her dead father.

That first film is full of charm and whimsy, where curiosity, kindness and courage win the day. It was also a great success, which led to the second movie.

This is where Paddington really soars. Paddington 2 came along two years later. Much like the character, it was more established and confident, and added Hugh Grant to the cast as the narcissistic Phoenix Buchanan, an actor with faith in his thespian talents and will do anything to realise his dream of staging a one-man show.

The means to that end is a one-of-a-kind pop-up book that is secretly a treasure map to a legendary trove of jewels. Buchanan wants the loot to pay for his production, but the book has already been promised to Paddington who wants to buy it for his Aunt Lucy, so she can visit London through its pages.

Paddington is framed for its theft and he is sent up to prison, where he accidentally dyes the uniforms pink and wins over the fearsome Knuckles (Brendan Gleeson). Paddington makes friends everywhere he goes, and there’s nothing laboured about it.

Grant’s casting was a masterstroke, a perfect foil of unhinged self-belief, theatricality and charisma that plays with the actor’s former life as a rom-com hero. It’s working on more levels than the surface one, and it was a bold choice that paid off.

The film is also a cinephile’s delight with its visual references to everything from Wes Anderson to Charlie Chaplin.

Now, the third instalment is here, and with it, another adventure involving respected actors (Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas) who are willing to ham it up and just have fun in Paddington’s world.

This story takes him back to Peru when he receives word Aunt Lucy has not been herself, and all the Browns are dragged along as they also face the growing pains of disconnection as their children grow and sequester off into their own lives.

It’s a bit Paddington-does-Indy, there’s also a thematic subplot involving Paddington coming to terms with his two cultural identities, of his heritage and his adopted home, a valuable seam to explore in our era of division.

It’s a little silly and doesn’t hit the highs of the second film but at its core, Paddington in Peru keeps contract with the thing that fuels these films — the good-hearted bear who makes the lives of everyone around him better.

Paddington and Paddington 2 are streaming on Binge, Netflix, Prime and Stan, and Paddington in Peru is in cinemas on January 1