Looking for Some Solace? The 'Paddington' Films Are the Definition of Comfort Watches

January 2025 has already had a very rough start. Destructive California wildfires, the death of creative legends, tech bros gone wild, freezing cold snaps ... Can Punxsutawney Phil just see his shadow now so there’s a mass excuse for us all to hide in our “burrows” for six more weeks? It’s not exactly a reasonable request, but maybe another mammal can save us: Paddington Bear. 

While the third feature film in the Paul King (The Mighty Boosh) guided trilogy, Paddington in Peru, doesn’t arrive in U.S. theaters until February 14 — the U.K. got their fix last November — that delay makes the choice to bask in the restorative effects of a Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017) rewatch feel absolutely necessary. 

Taken together as a double-header, the two films are the very definition of counter-programming to the current malaise, anxiety, and sadness that’s gripping all corners of this nation. It’s not lost on me the irony of our country mulling the very fabric of our democracy while I’m suggesting we look to an import from the country we purposefully left as a virtual salve. But then I offer that Paddington Bear is Peruvian in origin, so stuff your arguments. Just grab a comfy blanket, a hot tea, and the mandatory marmalade sandwich as I persuade you to either try the bear* or seek him out again for a hit of warm endorphins. 

(*Ed Note: I recommend always choosing the bear.)

For some quick history, the much-beloved Paddington Bear, with the red floppy hat and blue duffel coat, has been around since 1958, when author Michael Bond first introduced him as the protagonist in his children's book, A Bear Called Paddington. A rare bear from the wilds of "darkest Peru" who travels to London and speaks English, Paddington is a British icon known around the world. 

What Paul King does so well with his story and script for Paddington is to balance the sweetness of the book character by adding plenty of tart wit and a generous supply of British inside jokes that are tailor-made for natives and Anglophiles. It’s also not afraid to slightly tweak the bear’s origin story for more emotional heft. King is adept at maintaining the bear’s timelessness while softly pulling him into the 21st century. 

Both films present Paddington as a fully CG animated bear voiced to gentle, tonal perfection by actor Ben Whishaw (Black Doves). To be clear, it’s not the janky CG tolerated in most family films. Paddington is fully rendered with distinct fur, an expressive face with emotive eyes, and no signs of that ghastly uncanny valley effect that is a film ruiner. All of this means we get a nuanced performance from Paddington that allows us to care about the character as he interacts with a fully human cast of British thespian national treasures, including Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Sally Hawkins (The Lost King), Julie Walters (Indian Summers), and young actors Samuel Joslin and Madeleine Harris who make up the Brown family. 

King also establishes a world stocked with deliciously vicious villains like Nicole Kidman’s Millicent Clyde. She’s a slinky, blonde-bobbed Natural History Museum taxidermist with a disturbing obsession with stuffing poor Paddington. Why does she wear six-inch heels for a job that requires a lot of standing and walking on marble floors? Who knows, but she looks fabulous while being awful, and she’s key in maintaining the heightened vibe that burbles through the whole endeavor, so it never gets too twee or sugary. 

From the moment Paddington enters the Brown Family’s gorgeous walkup, wrapped with Mrs. Brown’s lush illustrations, the bear and we feel at home in this cozy space. It’s where the bear and the family fall in love with one another despite Paddington’s almost pathological ability to create chaos from his wildly floppy appendages and boundless curiosity. It’s a joy to watch them all thaw towards this odd little bear with a “worrying marmalade habit” with a kindness that feels genuine and earned. Paddington fastidiously avoids being cloying and instead engenders real emotion that is soul-healing and special.

King then bests himself with Paddington 2 by cranking everything that works in the original film up to 11. This time, co-written with fellow The Mighty Boosh alumni Simon Farnaby, the film is even more confident in getting weird and big, with just the proper self-imposed tonal guardrails keeping it all together. 

Paddington Bear is now a full-fledged member of the Brown family, so he’s ventured out into their neighborhood where he’s become beloved to everyone in their community except for the secret thief, Phoenix Buchanan, played with scene-chewing delight by Hugh Grant (Heretic). He sets up Paddington to go to Portobello prison for his thievery. Surrounded by grizzled criminals, the bear works his accidental magic on the convicts and gains ground through his friendship with Knuckles McGinty, played by a barmy Brendan Gleeson (State of the Union).

Of the two films, Paddington 2 is unequivocally the funnier chapter, with King and his cast much looser in performance and committed to the film’s surreal comedy with gusto. There are visual gags and even more sly wit in the dialogue this time around. Equally, it also builds upon the familial bonds established in the original as the Browns are now wholeheartedly committed to exonerating their captive bear they call family. After the hilariously convoluted jailbreaks and the dastardly villainous plans are exposed, what’s left is genuine heart and love that will have you feeling around for the tissue box for how well King and Company land their emotional beats. Audacious and comforting, this is a sequel that arguably betters the original.

In short, there’s no losing with the Paddington film franchise. This world, these characters and this particular version of the beloved bear is like a warm hug you never want to let go of, which is everything we need right now.

The original 2014 Paddington movie is available to stream on Max. The 2017 follow-up, Paddington 2, is currently available as a streaming rental but is expected to return to Max in February 2025. The third installment, titled Paddington in Peru, will debut in U.S. Theaters on Friday, February 14, 2025, perfectly timed for Valentine's Day.