Movie · 2017 · Adventure, Comedy, Family · 1h 44m · PG · English
Curator score: 9.1/10 (752.1K ratings)
Magic. Mystery. Marmalade.
Overview
Paddington, now happily settled with the Browns, picks up a series of odd jobs to buy the perfect present for his Aunt Lucy, but it is stolen.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.1/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.14/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 99%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director
Paul King
Production
StudioCanal, Heyday Films, Anton Capital Entertainment
Cast
Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Julie Walters, Hugh Grant, Imelda Staunton, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Ben Miller, Jessica Hynes, Michael Gambon, Noah Taylor, Tom Davis, Aaron Neil, Tom Conti, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Joanna Lumley
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A near-universal crowd-pleaser that blends slapstick, warmth, and genuinely elegant craft. It’s funny for kids, moving for adults, and unusually generous in its view of people, institutions, and second chances.
Best for
families looking for a movie everyone can enjoy
viewers who like feel-good comedies with real emotional payoff
fans of whimsical British humor and polished production design
people who enjoy stories about kindness, community, and found family
Skip if
you want edgy or cynical comedy
you dislike sentimental storytelling
you need high-stakes action or intense conflict
you’re not in the mood for a very earnest, openly sweet film
Overview
Paddington 2 is the rare sequel that deepens everything that made the first film work while feeling even more assured in its comic timing and visual invention. It’s built around a simple quest, but the movie keeps finding new ways to turn politeness, curiosity, and decency into genuine suspense and delight.
Worth noting
What makes it special is how seriously it takes kindness. The jokes are precise, the set pieces are beautifully staged, and the film never talks down to its audience. It has the buoyant energy of a classic family adventure, but it also sneaks in a surprisingly humane worldview about prisons, neighbors, and the dignity of being overlooked.
Bottom line
The result is one of those movies that seems to leave a room brighter than it found it. It’s charming without being flimsy, emotional without becoming syrupy, and so confidently made that its sweetness feels earned rather than manufactured.
Top Letterboxd reviews
lauren (5★) · 13783 likes
people who don’t cry over paddington are the weaker species and will be taken by natural selection
Stephanie (5★) · 12081 likes
that part where Paddington cures that man's depression by just cleaning his windows and letting the sun come in? that's what happens to me when I watch anything involving this little bear.
demi adejuyigbe (4.5★) · 7564 likes
I feel like people joke about this movie’s progressive prison politics with a wink, suggesting they weren’t an intentional/thoughtful choice for this children’s movie, but there’s a part where the warden is reading a bedtime story over the loudspeaker and only reads the line “It turns out the monster wasn’t such a monster after all.” A very clear notion that, it is intentional! And maybe the entire point! That prisoners being kind, misunderstood humans as deserving of respect and luxury… more I feel like people joke about this movie’s progressive prison politics with a wink, suggesting they weren’t an intentional/thoughtful choice for this children’s movie, but there’s a part where the warden is reading a bedtime story over the loudspeaker and only reads the line “It turns out the monster wasn’t such a monster after all.” A very clear notion that, it is intentional! And maybe the entire point! That prisoners being kind, misunderstood humans as deserving of respect and luxury… more
Jay (4★) · 6670 likes
watching this in a british household is just someone saying every 5 minutes thats the guy from the tesco ads
James (Schaffrillas) (5★) · 5278 likes
I was gonna give it a 9/10 but that last shot before the credits...fuck it 10/10. It may not be the single greatest movie ever made, but I can think of nothing else that deserves the title of "best-reviewed film of all time" more than this.