Delayed Reaction: Paddington

The Pitch: I couldn't figure out how to make Paddington into a movie, then I saw Up...

That certainly was charming. In fact, it's going to be quite difficult to not use "charming" in every sentence talking about Paddington. When this film came out in 2015, I remember dismissing it as a forgettable British import, released in the US to make a few bucks in the middle of a quiet winter season. Aardaman Animations has had a poor effect on me when it come to British family films. It turns out that Paddinton is an entirely pleasant film. It's quieter than most of what Dreamworks or even Pixar does while still being just as whimsical. The only thing I can say against it is how clearly it was written for young audiences, but that's only a bad thing if that wasn't the intent. As a 20-something, sans kid, I enjoyed it well enough. I like how very British the cast is (Ben Wishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins,  Jim Broadbent, and Pete Capaldi - Nicole Kidman is Australian, but that's close enough because I'm not about to be against Nicole Kidman in a movie). I also liked thinking of this as what Up would've been had Charles F. Muntz never returned to South America.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend