Hugh Grant Apart Paddington 2 Is An Over-Cute Pain: Movie Review

Starring: Hugh Grant,Hugh Bonnerville, Sally Hawkins,BrendanGleeson

Directed  by: Paul King

Rating:**(2 Stars)

Paddington  in 2014 was so treacly it was like eating too  much Christmas pudding.  The most unwanted sequel comes to us with noblest of  intentions and feeblest of contrivances. It has little else to recommend  itself, except Hugh Grant in  a whammy of a performance that belongs to film far weightier than this eyecandy-floss.

 Grant plays Phoenix Buchanan a wicked has-been of an actor whose villainy drives the anorexic plot forward through the neat unexciting residential streets  of London as  our bear-hero the adorablePaddington waddles through a mess that , I suspect, is created entirely by the script writers who  were told to slap together a hurried sequel filled with ersatz twists and  unconvincing  turns which would get thePaddington fans back into their seats.

As far  as sequels go, this one doesn’t get anywhere that we would particularly like to go.It is  like visiting Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheelon a day when the rides  are open only to the righteous.It opens on a note of sanctimonious adoration with a bear-couple adopting anawashed  baby bear. The CGs are not so unbearable . There is so much more to  ‘bear’ here.

The plot quickly moves to London to Paddington’s  adoptive British family that spreads so much fuzzy warmth around our cute little hero making him the apex of British propriety and marmalade-laid decorum. Some of Paddington’s teaparty etiquettes are plainly  annoying. Elsewhere, as in  the sequels  where poor little Paddingtonis imprisoned, the attempts to remain propah and genteel  in  a rough environment  may evoke some stray titters. Though  I doubt anyone will remain amused  for  too long with the strained attempts toalchemize animation tropes into a full fledged feature films.

Even by the  low standards  set by the cult of sequels Paddington 2  fares poorly. Veteran British actors like Jim Broadbent(playing an antique dealer) and  Brendan  Gleeson(as a snarling prison cook) liven up the proceedings. But it is Hugh Grant who will raise your amusement quotient and perk your curiosity level with his huffing and heaving portrayal of an actor on the skids.

Oh yes, you will see two actors  of Indian origin. Sanjeev Bhaskar is  a face glimpsed at a window on a  London  street while Meera Sayalmakes a fleeting appearing ina  courtroom scene.Aren’t we  grateful.

 Don’t raise your hopes too  high. As our baby bear’s cuddly antics will make you roll your eyes and mutter under your breath.The plot’s focus of conflict  is  a pop-up animation book stolen by the arch-villain and coveted  by our cuddlesome hero as a birthday gift to his beloved aunt who teaches Paddington to  look for goodness in everyone.I looked for that quality in this film and  found way too much of it.

If the truth be told, the pop-up book pops up more vividly than anything that this lackluster sequel has to offer.I know  it has madepotloads  of  money across the global boxoffice.But if success was a measure of  excellence then Dhanush’s Kolaveri D would be  a classic  song.And Dwayne Johnson would be  a better actor than Marlon Brandon.

Or Hugh Grant, for that matter.