It seems like film and TV entertainment has turned so dark. I find my tastes have gravitated in that direction. So once in a while it's nice to step out of that and remember that entertainment can also be whimsical with no darkness at all.
Today we saw an absolutely delightful movie. It was a clever, fun, impeccably clean, and all-around nice story:
Paddington.I didn't have high expectations for a cute movie about a anthropomorphic bear. I figured it would be "Ted" for kids, but it was way different. A refreshing surprise.
The whole movie has a British theme, which added a style all its own. It had its expected "cute bear in the big city" hijinks, and some very "cartoonish" moments. Not cartoonish as in animated, but in a Looney Toons kind of way. For instance, in one scene, Paddington floods the entire house. The next morning, nothing was ruined and everything was dry, just like Wile E. Coyote gets blown to shreds, and is just fine in the next scene.
This is a live action movie with a CG bear who emigrates from the forests of Peru to London. Suspension of disbelief is dealt with in the first two minutes of the film, and the premise is carried throughout very adeptly. Nicole Kidman does a good turn (albeit unchallenging) as the antagonist of the film. Otherwise the actors were unknown to me.
The thing that really surprised me that I wasn't prepared for, was that from top-to-bottom, the theme of this movie was an intentional, quite obvious, adoption advocacy story. I s'pose that as an adoptive parent, that might mean more to me than it does to someone else. But in a couple moments, the movie actually had tears brimming in my eyes because of the beautiful way it addressed love and relationship in an adoptive family.
Even if you don't have kids, and you're just tired of the darkness in entertainment, and you're looking for something lighthearted and meaningful, but not stupid - I'd go see this movie. Take a grandkid if you're too embarrassed to see it on your own. It's not the greatest movie I've seen, but I enjoyed it more than many. I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars, while acknowledging that it's probably a 4 out of 5 film for most people.