“Paddington” Review

Premise: A young bear named Paddington (Ben Whishaw) moves to London after his home is destroyed and is adopted by the Brown family (led by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins) and must adjust to life in a strange new land.

My excitement for Paddington has always been fairly low. This might be partially based on the fact that although I’d been exposed to the character as a child, I never felt very strongly about any of the books or tv shows. Even that small amount of excitement mostly dissipated as soon as I saw the terrible trailer (the international trailer was better, but didn’t knock my socks off). But then I saw this…

For those of you who don’t go on Rotten Tomatoes, that means that 98 percent of critics gave it a positive review. 98 percent. That’s something that any movie would kill for. Hell, that’s higher than any presidential approval rating in United States history. So, it was with some reservations that I went to see Paddington. How was it? Surprisingly really good.

Pros: First, this movie is funny. That may come as a surprise if you’ve seen that trailer with all of Paddington’s antics in the bathroom. Horrible stuff. Except it isn’t in the movie itself. Instead, the physical comedy is actually really fun and gets a lot of laughs. It was fun seeing Paddington trying to adjust to life as a quasi-human. But the dialogue was also charming, showcasing the talents of Whishaw, Bonneville, Hawkins, etc. and giving us a fistful of classic British wit. There weren’t a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, but Paddington almost always put a smile on my face.

Not only is Paddington funny, it’s also endlessly charming. Right from the opening scenes in Peru, you can tell this is gonna be a heartwarming movie, and it delivers. The movie has a lot of soft spots touching on the importance of home and family, and they’re sweet without feeling forced. The characters are also a fun bunch. Whether it’s the Brown family (even the kids!), Paddington’s family in Peru, British veterans Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters, or Paddington himself, these are people that you’ll wish were real, even the stuffy Mr. Brown (played wonderfully by Hugh Bonneville).

Paddington is surprisingly good on many fronts, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to look this good. Trust me when I say that you’ll definitely want to visit London after seeing this movie.

Cons: If a movie has a villain, they’d better work. Unfortunately, Millicent (Nicole Kidman) doesn’t make for a good villain. A lot of this boils down to her motivation. It’s not revealed until very late in the film, and when she is it doesn’t make a lot of sense. On top of that, she’s just not entertaining. Kidman did fine in the role, but it wasn’t a good role to begin with.

The CGI is usually solid, but there are parts where it’s a bit dodgy. Now, I didn’t expect Paddington to look like Caesar from the Apes films, but there were some clear issues here and there, particularly with the fur texturing.

Verdict: Against all odds, Paddington is very entertaining and a highlight in the usually barren post-Christmas winter season. Definitely one that you should check out if you have young kids, but it has something for every demographic. Hard to believe that a movie that I had such low expectations for could end up being the highest rated movie of 2015.

Score: 8/10

“The Imitation Game” Review

Biopics have got to be among the hardest films to make. Sure, they can turn out great, but more often than not they can turn into shameless promotion pieces for their subjects. You’ll also be raked over the coals by angry historians if you don’t get the most minute details exactly right. Fortunately, The Imitation Game has always shown a lot of potential. The story of Alan Turing’s breaking of the Enigma code is nothing short of fascinating, as are his personal struggles. The film has also garnered a solid cast led by the very talented Benedict Cumberbatch. When word got out that The Imitation Game could be an Oscar contender, my anticipation increased ever more. After seeing the film for myself, I can confidently say that it deserves all the praise it gets.

Premise: When World War II breaks out, Britain’s code-breakers are assembled to break Nazi intelligence codes. When new arrival Alan Turing (Cumberbatch) sees his coworkers’ lack of progress, he goes to work building a machine that could break the codes faster than any human ever could.

Pros: The Imitation Game wouldn’t have worked without a good leading performance, but Benedict Cumberbatch takes it even further and makes Alan Turing one of the most compelling characters of the year. The real-life Turing was a fascinating guy, and Cumberbatch (with the help of great direction) brings his personality and all of his subtle nuances to life. Even though he’s initially a cold and arrogant man, everything from his line delivery to his facial expressions to his body language is also very entertaining and endears you to him. It was an excellent performance that almost single-handedly made the movie work, and I’ll be shocked if Cumberbatch doesn’t get nominated for Best Actor come Oscar season.

This is clearly Cumberbatch’s show, but he’s not the only one who gets a chance to shine. Keira Knightley is great as Joan Clarke, the only woman on the team and the one who makes Turing come out of his shell. Charles Dance and Mark Strong don’t have a lot of screentime, but nonetheless give solid performances as the military higher-ups that Turing and his fellow code-breakers answer to. Even Matthew Goode, who I’ve never been particularly impressed with, gives what might be his best performance to date as cryptanalyst Hugh Alexander. All in all, everybody did nice work.

When you’ve got a true story this good, you’d better not screw it up. Well, director Morten Tyldum and writer Graham Moore have taken the life of Alan Turing and told a very interesting story. The main draw is probably going to be Turing’s work building his code-breaking machine, and that makes for great drama. But at its heart The Imitation Game is the story of a deeply complicated man and his personal life. He may be a hardass, but he also desperately wants to have friends. On another note, Turing must also conceal his SPOILER ALERT homosexuality, which was illegal in Britain until the 60s. All of this makes for a story that is both inspiring and heartbreaking.

Cons: There’s not a lot to dislike about The Imitation Game, but it does have a few minor issues. The film uses a framing device that allows it to jump back and forth between time periods, and it doesn’t always work. Certain scenes have awkward transitions to events that happened decades before or after, and sometimes the non-linearity of the story causes it to drag. I’m not going to say that going the non-linear route was the wrong choice, but the way the story was framed didn’t always work and there were times when the pacing suffered.

Verdict: Even though I had high expectations for The Imitation Game, I’m surprised at just how much I loved it. Folks, make sure not to miss this one. Even if you don’t know anything about Alan Turing (I didn’t before trailer inspired me to look into him), this is a fantastic movie with a lot of great performances and plenty of heart.

Score: 9/10 (going back to numerical scores)