Paddington

Sequel: “Paddington 2” (2017)

Many people remember reading the fun stories of “Paddington,” as children. I was one of these people, so I was very excited to see this movie. The film “Paddington” begins with an explorer from London going to “darkest Peru” and finding an extremely intelligent species of bear. He befriends a male bear and a female and invites them to visit London sometime. Years pass, and the viewers see that the bears still dream of going to London and tell their nephew of this dream.

When a tragedy strikes, the female bear believes she needs to send her nephew to London. He goes with hopes that he will find a home. The Brown family take him in, temporarily, name him Paddington, and try to help him find a permanent home. That’s where the adventure starts. However, London is more dangerous for a bear than it seems…

“Paddington” has a good message of hospitality, which is refreshing in this age of mistrust. The Bible says that Christians are to “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9). Jesus also commends hospitality in Matthew 25:34-44.

Despite the good message on hospitality, there are inappropriate details that distract from the moral message. The explorer says “good Lord,” which is using the Lord’s name in vain. This is prohibited by the 3rd Commandment (Exodus 20:7). The explorer also makes reference to someone he “met in a bar.”

There are sexual innuendos, throughout the film. The Browns” daughter makes a comment about how she doesn’t want Paddington to sleep in her room because he is male, but her brother teases about it, saying she would be okay with her crush “bunking up” in there. A man cross-dresses, disguising himself as a cleaning lady. While he is so disguised, a security guard flirts with him and calls him “hot” and “sexy.”

Two characters have a drinking contest with shots; one passes out at the end.

The word “damned” is seen on a billboard.

There are some scary moments; one character throws a knife at a picture and has scary-looking dissection tools. This character also has a tranquilizer gun and shoots it several times. Two security guards are shot with it in the neck. She threatens to shoot it at a person and kill him.

There are some gross scenes. Paddington uses tooth brushes to clean his ears and tastes the wax. Someone brushes his teeth with the brush that had wax on it.

There are some spiritual issues. The Browns” have a statue in their flat that looks like Buddha. Someone calls a museum, a “cathedral of knowledge.” Another character refers to coffee as “salvation.”

The movie, overall, has a positive message about the importance of family, but the Browns seem to idolize it. One character says the family (kids in particular) should be their “number one priority.” However, God should be more important than family; Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).

“Paddington” is a well done movie that has an excellent message of hospitality. For me personally, however, the offensive details outweighed the good message.

Violence: Minor to moderate / Profanity: Minor—“Good Lord” / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

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