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Movie Review

‘Paddington’ the bear comes to the screen

Paddington bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw, has to contend with Cruella-esque Millicent, played by Nicole Kidman.twc dimension photos

Film adaptations of classic children’s characters can be judged by the quality and quantity of fart jokes. Take for example “Shrek the Third,” a film that stinks on many levels.

On that scale, “Paddington,” Paul King’s live-action-plus-CGI version of Michael Bond’s beloved bear, scores fairly well. Its one reference to flatulence, though enough to earn a PG rating, is quite demur. True, a lot of marmalade gets spread around, and at times the zaniness gets a bit too slap-sticky, but it’s all good clean fun.

“Paddington” falters, though, when it comes to that other pitfall of children’s’ films — the quartet of uplifting, politically correct Hollywood platitudes that includes family bonding, being yourself (which, when you think of it, is actually a contradiction of the first rule), protecting the environment, and respecting those different from yourself. The didacticism doesn’t bang heads here as much as in other films of this sort, but it’s enough to detract from the film’s charms.

The latter includes Paddington himself, voiced with wistful courtesy and innocence by Ben Whishaw. As generations of readers know, he has stowed away on a cargo ship from his home in darkest Peru and finds himself alone in the London train station from which he will eventually take his name. The Brown family — father Henry (Hugh Bonneville), wife Mary (Sally Hawkins, as quirky and lovable as a children’s book character herself, and one of the best things in the movie), and siblings Judy and Jonathan (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin) — are only mildly puzzled when they come across this stranded, talking bear. After some huffing from Henry, they take him home.

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In the episodic first book of the series, what follows is a mishmash of misadventures in which Paddington confronts some confounding aspects of the civilized world, makes a mess of it, and inevitably comes up on top. The film offers lots of that, too, at times improving on the original, as Paddington’s wranglings with a bathtub, escalator, or toothbrush (truly gross) expand cleverly into Rube Goldberg devices of disaster, reminiscent of the intricately constructed gags of silent comedy.

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But unlike books, kids’ movies need plots, or at least the adults who make them think they do. Paddington starts out with a black-and-white newsreel back story reminiscent of “Up,” and then borrows liberally from “101 Dalmatians.” Nicole Kidman takes on the Cruella De Vil role as Millicent, the dominatrix-like curator of a natural history museum who wants to get Paddington stuffed. This premise serves adequately as a structuring device, despite such smart-pants sour notes as a riff from the “Mission Impossible” theme during one of Millicent’s more acrobatic wicked deeds.

What can stop this gorgon-like epitome of the evils of environmental despoliation and intolerance of others? Nothing less than sticking together as a family and being yourself, of course. “Paddington” demonstrates the value and appeal of these virtues, but not when it makes speeches about them.

Nicole Kidman.TWC-Dimension

Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.