Paddington 2 (2017)

I loved the first Paddington which is why I wasn't sure about watching Paddington 2. Sequels suck most of the time and I didn't want a bad sequel to ruin my good memory of Paul King's film. The cute teddy eventually got the best of me, I went to the movies and I was pretty happy with what I saw. 

Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) is now happily settled with the Brown family and has become popular in the local community. His beloved Aunt Lucy's (voiced by Imelda Staunton) 100th birthday is one the way and while searching for the perfect gift, he spots a pop-up book in the antique shop of Mr Gruber (Jim Broadbent) and picks up a series of odd jobs to buy it. But the books is stolen, Paddington is accused and it's up to the Browns to find the real thief.

It's a heartwarming and quite emotional story, basically like in the first film, but it's got darker tones, like most sequels do. It looks simple but it's well structured and well developed and that's because of the direction the film takes. It's an action/mystery driven story and, although it's pretty obvious to the audience who the thief is right from the beginning, it will keep you engaged and entertained. And there are also a couple of nice twists.

What made me love the first Paddington was its characters and luckily I can say the same about this one. Paddington, the sweet teddy, is still a delight. He's got such an adorable personality it's impossible to not love him. Also, Ben Whishaw's voice work makes sure you love him.

StudioCanal

As much as I liked seeing the old characters, I liked the new entries more (also because the characters from the first film, the Browns and Peter Capaldi's annoying Mr Curry, aren't developed any further). I'm not a huge fan of Hugh Grant (to be honest, I can't stand the sight of his face) but I loved him as Phoenix Buchanan, a once-famous actor now fallen into disgrace. He gets to play different characters and he's clearly having fun playing them which resulted in me having a good time in spite of how I feel about him. And he has a nice musical number at the end. The other character/performance I enjoyed was Brendan Gleeson's grumpy convict/prison cook Knuckles McGinty. This was the first time I saw him doing comedy and he did a really nice job.

The humour was easily my least favourite element in Paddington 2. The film still is very funny, it has nice jokes and gags, but the problem is that at times Paul King (director and co-writer) felt the need to use gags from the first movie, like the toothbrush gag, and they didn't work for me.