Paddington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven't read the books, but saw it yesterday. Thought it was much better than the previews. Thought it was well written.

That's good to know. My 8 year old wants to see it tomorrow and the previews look horrible to me. I didn't know if I could sit through 2 hours of ear wax and toilet floods.

I agree, that is amazing, given the awful previews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They must rate it PG for a reason, yes?

I have an easily frightened child, frightened by scary emotional themes especially.

There is a scary villainness who wants to stuff Paddington and make him part of a Museum. Some of the scenes of him getting away/being rescued are intense. There is a scene where they are on top of the museum, on the roof.

Earlier, Paddington is completely separated from his family, lost in a strange land, at the train station, basically begging a family for a home. This is an intense theme for my child, who has separation anxiety.

There is a constant threat that Paddington will be kicked out of the family's home and sent to an orphanage which is a horrible place. Again, very intense theme for an easily frightened child.

There is a very intense scene in which the villainness comes through the roof while Paddington is home alone because the family has gone out and left him alone. She shoots him with a dart gun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if anyone who is/was a fan of the original books has seen it. I ADORED the original books, and am sort of afraid they have ruined it by over-Americanizing it and making it too slap-sticky (like the bathtub shooting down the stairs in the previews) and adding a villain (the closest thing that the books had to a villain was the intolerant grouchy neighbor -- and the occasional intolerant or overly stuffy Briton that they'd encounter on the streets who would look rather crossly at Paddngton, but that's about it).

So we are the kind of household where we may just mention in passing that "sticky bears is twice as much again" or look for Number 32 Windsor Gardens on google maps, just for fun.

We just saw the movie. My kid is 5, doesn't care for scary movies. He liked the beginning slapsticky parts. The scary parts, not so much. But the movie manages to bring a modern sensibility and still stays very very close to the spirit of the original books. The Browns are quaintly eccentric. The story has very much Bond's original pro-immigration/ pro-diversity themes woven into the story. It's also a little valentine to London, with the city almost a character in the movie. It's also gorgeous -- particularly costumes and sets. I want their kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Took 4 year old today and he enjoyed it. I can't compare it to the books as I've never read them but I didn't think it was Americanized at all.

[Anonymous]

I took my almost four year old thinking it was going to be an upbeat happy cute kids movie. It was not. It was very dark, scary and very PG. I think 5:48 laid it out very well. Plus it begins with a scare earthquake where a character was killed and Paddington needs to leave his forrest home. My kid was very scared and I though about leaving multiple times. For an older kid, it is probably ok -- but as an adult I found it very cliche.

[Anonymous]

Why don't people like the PP read reviews before taking their young children to movies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people like the PP read reviews before taking their young children to movies?

I didn't read the reviews because it is Paddington, for goodness sake. I great up reading these innocuous little stories. Harmless and delightful. It never occurred to me that the theme of the movie would be a baddie attempting to kidnap, kill and stuff Paddington. My 5 year old was pretty scared and I have learnt a lesson.


But still, honestly, Paddington scary? What's all that about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people like the PP read reviews before taking their young children to movies?

I didn't read the reviews because it is Paddington, for goodness sake. I great up reading these innocuous little stories. Harmless and delightful. It never occurred to me that the theme of the movie would be a baddie attempting to kidnap, kill and stuff Paddington. My 5 year old was pretty scared and I have learnt a lesson.


But still, honestly, Paddington scary? What's all that about?

It's rated PG. It's obviously not as innocuous as the books. Do you not understand the rating system?

[Anonymous]

I know, I really hated the recent Alexander movie - it got very good reviews and I didn't bother to get too much info about the movie in advance, it totally deviated from the books and kind of went over the head of my 6 year old.

The preview I saw of Paddington was actually hilarious, I was disappointed to hear it has this scary element.

PG can play very differently by the way, we just saw Annie which was PG and really wasn't very scary at all - I think it was less scary than the original movie made in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They must rate it PG for a reason, yes?

I have an easily frightened child, frightened by scary emotional themes especially.

There is a scary villainness who wants to stuff Paddington and make him part of a Museum. Some of the scenes of him getting away/being rescued are intense. There is a scene where they are on top of the museum, on the roof.

Earlier, Paddington is completely separated from his family, lost in a strange land, at the train station, basically begging a family for a home. This is an intense theme for my child, who has separation anxiety.

There is a constant threat that Paddington will be kicked out of the family's home and sent to an orphanage which is a horrible place. Again, very intense theme for an easily frightened child.

There is a very intense scene in which the villainness comes through the roof while Paddington is home alone because the family has gone out and left him alone. She shoots him with a dart gun.

This is an excellent summary. We went today, and my kids (6 & 8) really liked it - as far as children's movies go, I thought it was pretty cute. It is not something I would take a 3.5yo to see, but obviously others feel differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people like the PP read reviews before taking their young children to movies?

I didn't read the reviews because it is Paddington, for goodness sake. I great up reading these innocuous little stories. Harmless and delightful. It never occurred to me that the theme of the movie would be a baddie attempting to kidnap, kill and stuff Paddington. My 5 year old was pretty scared and I have learnt a lesson.


But still, honestly, Paddington scary? What's all that about?

It's rated PG. It's obviously not as innocuous as the books. Do you not understand the rating system?

Didn't even look at the rating. I repeat, it's Paddington for goodness sake!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if anyone who is/was a fan of the original books has seen it. I ADORED the original books, and am sort of afraid they have ruined it by over-Americanizing it and making it too slap-sticky (like the bathtub shooting down the stairs in the previews) and adding a villain (the closest thing that the books had to a villain was the intolerant grouchy neighbor -- and the occasional intolerant or overly stuffy Briton that they'd encounter on the streets who would look rather crossly at Paddngton, but that's about it).

I also adored the books but the previews have really turned me off-- something about the way they animated Paddington I think.

Same here. The ear-cleaning? Paddington was never gross. And he looks odd.