Film

Paddington 2

Name: Paddington 2
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Released: 2017
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin

Slapstick
Light-hearted

Paddington 2 is the rare sequel that improves on a beloved original: a warm, gorgeously crafted comedy in which the marmalade-loving bear ends up in prison, wins over hardened inmates with kindness and baked goods, and outwits a deliciously vain Hugh Grant villain. Funny for adults, gentle for children, and unembarrassed about believing decency wins - pure comfort, expertly made.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a family film that plays its warmth completely straight yet keeps a sharp, physical slapstick streak, the sort of gentle caper where kindness is the real plot engine.

Skip it if you find talking animals and wholesome sweetness hard to sit through, since the whole film runs on a cheerful, unbroken good nature that some viewers will find saccharine.

What it asks of you: About an hour and three-quarters, with a brisk pace and light tone, asking little more than an easy willingness to be charmed by a bear and his well-meaning household.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Paddington2014

The film that started it all - meet Paddington as a wide-eyed newcomer to London, all clumsy charm and hopeful marmalade sandwiches, before he's fully part of the Brown family furniture.

But It's gentler and lower-stakes than the sequel, without the prison-set comic set pieces that make Paddington 2 sing.

Fantastic Mr. Fox2009

Wes Anderson's stop-motion fable shares Paddington's dry English wit, tactile handmade textures, and a hero whose good intentions keep getting him into elegant trouble.

But Anderson's deadpan, symmetrical style is an acquired taste, and younger kids may find some of the humour goes over their heads.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit2005

British stop-motion at its most inventive, with the same gentle absurdity and pun-heavy charm that makes Paddington's world feel so lovingly handmade.

But The horror-movie spoofing and vegetable-based plot are a very specific flavour of silly that not everyone finds funny.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Paddington 2

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sing Sing2024

Paddington 2 spends its middle act turning a prison from hardened to gentle through small kindnesses and shared purpose; Sing Sing tells almost the same story straight, with real stakes and real men.

A drama about incarcerated men staging a play through a real prison arts programme - proof that Paddington's marmalade-and-manners jailhouse redemption isn't just a fairy tale.

But It's a serious, sometimes heavy character study with no comedy and real emotional weight - nothing like a family film.

Chicken Run2000

A prison-break caper - chickens escaping a pie factory - with the same mix of slapstick, warmth, and unexpectedly tense set pieces as Paddington's own escape plot.

But The stakes are darker than they first appear; it's about chickens facing the pot, which can rattle very small viewers.

The Muppets2011

Puppets standing in for people, sincerity worn without irony, and a plot about found family and kindness winning out - it's Paddington's spirit in felt and foam.

But The nostalgia-heavy callbacks to older Muppet material may land better with adults who grew up on the originals.

Shaun the Sheep Movie2015

Wordless, visually inventive, and packed with the same slapstick generosity as Paddington - a genuinely funny film that never needs dialogue to make you care.

But No dialogue at all might frustrate viewers used to jokes being told rather than shown visually.

Nanny McPhee2005

A magical outsider arrives and quietly reorders a chaotic household through firm kindness rather than punishment - very much Paddington's method, just with a walking stick instead of a hat.

But It leans further into fairy-tale strangeness and slightly unsettling makeup effects that Paddington never touches.

Matilda1996

Another small, decent outsider up against a genuinely monstrous authority figure, carrying the same conviction that kindness and cleverness eventually win.

But Miss Trunchbull's menace is played straighter and scarier than anything in Paddington's cosy world.

Mary Poppins1964

London, an eccentric stranger who reshapes a family through unshakeable politeness and a few good songs - practically Paddington's spiritual grandmother.

But It's a musical first, and the slower, stagier pacing of a 1964 studio picture may test modern kids' patience.

The Lavender Hill Mob1951

Phoenix Buchanan's flamboyant heist and Paddington's unlikely detective work descend directly from this lineage of gentle English comic capers, where good manners and cunning share a screen.

A mild-mannered, impeccably polite bank clerk masterminds an audacious gold heist in an Ealing comedy classic full of the same twinkly, understated British mischief.

But It's black-and-white, slower-paced, and its humour is drier and more adult than anything aimed at children.

Kiki's Delivery Service1989

Swap a bear for a witch and London for a seaside town, and Paddington's arc - odd little newcomer earning a place through kindness and hard work - is exactly Kiki's, told in hand-drawn Ghibli warmth instead.

A young witch leaves home for an unfamiliar city and wins it over through pluck, small jobs, and sheer decency - Studio Ghibli's answer to the lovable-stranger story.

But It's a subtitled or dubbed Japanese anime with a slower, more meditative rhythm than a British comedy's rat-a-tat jokes.