Paddington

director: Paul King
year: 2014
with: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman, Julie Walters, etc.

plot: A young Peruvian bear with a passion for all things British travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he begins to realize that city life is not all he had imagined - until he meets the kindly Brown family, who read the label around his neck ('Please look after this bear. Thank you.') and offer him a temporary haven. It looks as though his luck has changed until this rarest of bears catches the eye of a museum taxidermist.

what I liked: London! How can you not be enchanted by this pretty Notting Hill neighbourhood and the nocturnal city scapes. All characters are charming in their own ways (thumbs up for Lord Grantham wearing a dress!), especially Mr Gruber in his magical shop on Portobello road (I really want this tea train!).
I loved the slightly "Amelie" like narrative including little collages of flashbacks and the doll house views of the magnificent house.
The scene that showed Mrs and Mr Brown turning up on their motorbike at the maternity ward ready to give birth stroke a chord with me. They go in as a fun and reckless couple and come out as overcautious bores...well, here it is, one of my biggest fears in life shown to me in a childrens film...

what I didn't like: As feared before, for me there was too much action again. A grumpy neighbour and the daily madness London is would have been exciting enough in my opinion, why include that evil taxidermist? Why chasing around the Natural History Museum?? The story about Paddington's home being destroyed and his uncle dying really upset me (and the little girl sitting behind me), I'm obviously getting to old for those PG rated films :-/

verdict: Overall lovely but without the good vs. evil plotline it would have been much more charming.