IT TAKES A BEAR TO CATCH A THIEF. 

Paddington the bear has created a nice life for himself with the Brown family, but everything changes the day he is accused of having stolen a peculiar pop-up book of London sights….

A sequel that does everything right and maintains the same cheerful, kind and funny spirit from the original – even when it subjects sweet Paddington to prison! That part of the movie is great fun thanks to Brendan Gleeson as the intimidating Knuckles. The final chase, involving a hilarious Hugh Grant as a crazed, self-obsessed actor turned villain, admirably keeps up the tension and frantic pace.

Very pleasant family entertainment, boosted by director Paul King’s visual ideas.

2017-U.K.-France. 95 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Paul King. Screenplay: Paul King, Simon Farnaby. Books: Michael Bond. Cast: Hugh Bonneville (Henry Brown), Sally Hawkins (Mary Brown), Brendan Gleeson (Knuckles McGinty), Hugh Grant, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi… Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins, Tom Conti. Voices of Ben Whishaw, Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon. 

Trivia: Followed by Paddington in Peru (2024).

Last word: “One of my favorite details, I don’t think it’s ever in focus, there’s an oil painting of [Grant] wearing a kilt […] which we all thought was a very funny thing for an actor to have around… Hugh managed to find lots of his old publicity photos and we sort of decorated his whole house with them, which was great.” (King, Flavourmag)