Paddington, now happily settled with the Brown family and a popular member of the local community, picks up a series of odd jobs to buy the perfect present for his Aunt Lucy's 100th birthday, only for the gift to be stolen.
reviews
"Britain's favourite bear returns in a family treat that's as scrumptious as a marmalade sandwich"
- Brian Viner, Daily Mail
"This is exactly what a sequel should be, respectful, goose bumpy and warm hearted. /.../ This is where imagination comes in, allowing the bear's personality to captivate with a mixture of innocence and perseverance. Even more than that is the ability of the filmmakers to retain a sense of wonder without losing pace, or face. To find a sequel that embraces the best from its predecessor and then improves upon it is as rare as Tinker's bell.
Magical."
- Angus Wolfe Murray, Eye For Film
"The small bear with the huge heart returns with the family film of the year in another fabulous and funny adventure. Mixing live action with CGI, it's a wonderfully enjoyable and brightly coloured romp through a picture postcard pretty London and beyond. /.../ There's an emphasis on good manners, kindness, friendship and sunny optimism. Though it's careful never to mention Christmas, the script's message of love and peace to all persons and bears is perfect preparation for the festive season."
- Chris Hunneysett, Mirror
"This is the follow-up to the first Paddington movie of 2014 and it’s a tremendously sweet-natured, charming, unassuming and above all funny film with a story that just rattles along, powered by a nonstop succession of Grade-A gags conjured up by screenwriters Paul King (who also directs), Simon Farnaby and Jon Croker. Their screenplay perfectly catches the tone of the great master himself, Michael Bond, author of the original books, who sadly died in June this year at the age of 91, creative and productive to the end. The film is pitched with insouciant ease and a lightness of touch at both children and adults without any self-conscious shifts in irony or tone: it’s humour with the citrus tang of top-quality thick-cut marmalade"
- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"Like an intricate scaled diorama, this is a work of art built up from thousands of tiny, thoughtful details that no one could catch on just one viewing. Given the way kids like to watch things at home on an endless loop, Paddington 2 will reward weary parents with frequent chances to spot gags they may have missed the first, second or twentieth time around."
Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
"The faithful adventure’s slapstick sequences invoke the memory of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton."
- Geoffrey Macnab, Independent
"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."
- Guy Lodge, Variety