Paddington

Don’t be fooled, as I was, into thinking this is another of those brainless cranked-out commercials to buy teddy bears. Yes, there seems to be Paddington merchandise by the truckload for sale, but the movie is smart, funny, extremely well-made, and even poignant now and then. It has an astronomical 98% at Rotten Tomatoes. Now, I always see that and the Metacritic and the IMDb ratings with a jaundiced eye, but they are not usually way off-base. (Except for superhero movies, and I guess that’s just me being unable to get interested in assholes in brightly colored Spandex.) I’m glad I went back and saw this, in 2019. Now I intend to see Paddington 2, which apparently defies another of my rules of thumb, which is that sequels are rarely as good as the original. This one has a RT rating of an incredible 100%, which makes it the best-reviewed movie, ever. Yeah, I don’t think for a minute it is as good as Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Annie Hall. But I think odds are that it is damn good.