2024, Dougal Wilson (a bunch of music videos & ads) -- download
I realized something with a recent post, that since I have not embraced "reviewing movies" as the focus of this blog, for me, it has always been more a vehicle of me, through the lens of pop culture consumption. I am sure that says something about me already as well as the choices I make in my viewing. One could say that that has always been the intent of "journalism" or any non-fiction writing, to share your own world view through what you write about. With the loss of "personal blogs" I guess this became my forum.
And we won't go into the whole "writing as therapy" bit will we....
We didn't rush to see this one, as we knew it was not King. But in the advent of January 6 and the anxiety felt, and only increased, as the weeks of doom scrolling went by. We needed an antidote. We started by the rewatch of the first two.
This movie must have come out digitally in the UK before it was released in North America because non-cam copies appeared mid-February.
Has it really been eight years since the last one? Time flies when the world is burning down around you. Were those movies really, truly pre-Pause? It just seems that the relief they provided was so endemic to the pandemic. Now, that said, eight years is a lot of years, and that means teenagers grow up. But not eight years worth, just ... older teens. But I get ahead of myself.
Paddington (Ben Whishaw, Black Doves) gets a letter from Peru, and inside it states Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton, The Crown), who is now in the Home for Retired Bears, has been missing Paddington ever so much, and has been acting strangely. So, Paddington and the Browns and Mrs. Bird (Julie Waters, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) decide they will visit Darkest Peru. But first, we establish how everyone is doing. Mr. Brown is dealing with his company having some cameo laden management restructure, the kids are almost ready for college and dealing with growing pains and Mrs. Brown has been replaced by Emily Mortimer. Sure, she's a lovely actor, but she's no Sally Hawkins (as Mrs. Brown).
An adventure. Sure, number two was an adventure, but a proper adventure in an adventurous locale. Not a Bear Out of Water movie but the Browns Out of Water. I was reserved by hopeful.
In Peru they meet a nun, a sometimes singing nun (Olivia Colman, Secret Invasion) on the green grasses of mountainsides, but mostly a very amiable nun. Aunt Lucy has gone missing, leaving behind some clues, after which the Browns and Paddington must immediately chase. And that leads them to riverboat captain Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas, Uncharted), his charming daughter Gina (Carla Tous, 30 Coins), and his obsession for the gold of El Dorado (not the chicken shop) which is personified by the appearance of his ancestors' ghosts. So, yeah, a proper adventure up the river in search of the lost city of El Dorado, but really, searching for Aunt Lucy.
Retrospectively, I am less satisfied with the movie than I was during the watching. The tonal shift from King to Wilson is very apparent, and while I am happy he did not try to replicate the thousand little nods of charm that King did (my continuous smiling or chuckles) but he does put his own little mark on it, which include pop culture nods: The Sound of Music as nun Reverend Mother dances and sings, Steamboat Willie (Disney) music playing on Captain Cabot's player piano, an escape from a rolling boulder that I don't have to identify. Sure, they are fun and all, but.... not my Paddington charms. This is likely the Paddington movie that is more meant for the kids than for the adults that swarmed the other two. And just when we truly needed the charms. Pfaw.
I am sure I could say more about the plot and all, but I think I will find myself detracting more from it than it deserves. For me, you can put the bear back into the jungle, but that was beside the point.
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