‘But Aunt Lucy said, ‘If we’re kind and polite, the world will be right.’’

The beloved bear returns, along with his fellow cast members, and director-writer Paul King (this time co-writing with Simon Farnaby of Horrible Histories fame) for the second adventure in the now intended trilogy.

The Film

We re-join Paddington in the run up to Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, he is determined to get her a very special present. Visiting Mr Gruber’s antique shop, he comes across a pop-up book depicting various London landmarks, a piece of ‘’memory-bilia’’ from the travelling Kozlova’s Steam Fair, and decides it is just the right thing, as Aunt Lucy has never actually achieved her ambition of visiting London.

Resolute that he will buy it despite the cost, Paddington seeks employment so he can afford the book. He tries a barber’s first (it is a great embarrassment to me, that this bear can get a job and I can’t) but is fired after an incident involving the loss of a customer’s hair.

That night, the Browns (accompanied as ever by Mrs Bird) visit Madame Kozlova’s steam fair featuring a steam train (Johnathan harbours a secret love for them but they’re ‘’not cool’’). The fair is being opened by Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant, in a part written with him in mind), a ‘narcissistic monster of a washed-up actor’ who takes great pleasure in recounting his former glory, but has had to resort to acting in ‘dog food commercials’. He selects Paddington to help him open the fair and asks Paddington what his ‘one wish’ would be? Paddington, ever selfless, says he wants to find a present for Aunt Lucy. He explains about the pop-up book, in which Phoenix takes an immediate interest.

After earning money cleaning windows, Paddington nearly has enough saved to buy the pop-up book, and is passing the antique shop one night when he spots a thief sneaking in the window. When the thief makes off with the book, Paddington pursues him but when cornered, he quite literally vanishes ‘in a puff of smoke’. Paddington is arrested.

We immediately learn that the thief was Phoenix in disguise. He is after the pop-up book because it is the key to finding ‘a fortune’, so that he can resurrect his career.

 After a trial, Paddington is sent to prison ‘for grand theft’ and doesn’t have the best start when, put in charge of laundry, he unintentionally causes all the white prison uniforms to turn pink in the wash thanks to the addition of a red sock. To make up for this, he tries to convince Knuckles (Brendan Gleeson (‘the chef’ whom every man is terrified of)) to make food other than the gruel-like meal they are currently served. This doesn’t go down well, but Paddington wins him over with a marmalade sandwich.

Meanwhile, Mrs Brown and Mr Gruber have deduced that the pop-up book must be significant, because it is all the thief took. The Browns go the fair to speak to the current Madame Kozlova, who explains that the original Madame Kozlova became very wealthy through her trapeze act and that a magician became envious. He schemed and caused an accident during her act which killed her so he could steal her riches. But he never found the riches, just the pop-up book. ‘They had him cornered, but he vanished. And neither he nor the treasure were ever heard of again.’

Mrs Brown is convinced by this story, that the pop-up book must have clues to where Madame Kozlova’s riches are; Mr Brown is not.

Phoenix is hunting down ‘clue number two’: this involves sneaking into St Paul’s Cathedral dressed as a nun.

Knuckles and Paddington make marmalade and it’s a hit with the other prisoners. Mrs Brown, Judy, and Johnathan go to St Paul’s to investigate and are told an interesting story about a nun by a security guard.

At the next ‘visiting day’ the Brown’s fill Paddington in, explaining that as well as the original thief, there are now also three other suspects and they think it’s a matter of ‘a criminal gang’ – and they have all been sketched by Mrs Brown (the sketch of the thief has been used as a kind of wanted poster) – but even with the help of Knuckles and co. they can reach no new conclusions.

Mrs Brown catches up with Phoenix, who thanks to his own vanity, makes Mrs Brown suspicious: he describes the thief as having ‘dazzling blue eyes’, but as Mary points out, her drawing was ‘just a pencil sketch.’ Mrs Brown, Judy, Jonathan, and Mrs Bird cook up a ‘fool-proof plan’ to get Phoenix out of his house so Mrs Brown can sneak in and look for clues.

Mr Brown catches her in the act and is appalled: ‘This is breaking and entering!’

‘We haven’t broken anything.’ Mr Brown promptly knocks over a vase. They discover all of Phoenix’s disguises in his attic but are rumbled when he returns home. The Browns are so occupied with investigating Phoenix that they accidently miss ‘visiting day’ and Paddington, feeling abandoned, agrees to escape with Knuckles and two other prisoners, Phibs and Spoon because Knuckles says he will help Paddington clear his name.

However, once they have ‘broken out’ Knuckles, Phibs and Spoon get hold of a seaplane so they can flee, leaving Paddington alone. He calls the Browns and they tell him that Phoenix is the real thief and they realise that he’s leaving with the Madame Kozlova steam train so they make for Paddington station to try to catch him.

Spotting Phoenix disguised as a luggage porter, Paddington leaps aboard the train but the Browns are left on the platform. Thankfully, Jonathan knows how to drive another steam train and it becomes a chase.

Aboard the fair train, Phoenix is inches away from finding Madame Kozlova’s riches. The clues he has been finding around London are letters, which represent musical notes which must be played on an organ to reveal the treasure. Paddington sneaks up and steals the book back and Phoenix gives chase. Fortunately, he promptly falls through an opening in the carriage roof, to be confronted by Mr Brown, Mrs Bird, and Judy who have rather daringly jumped aboard (the two trains are travelling on parallel tracks). Phoenix, however, threatens them with a sword, he is practiced in ‘Stage combat, level four’ and handcuffs them up.

Paddington attempts to get abroad the other train with the book but is foiled by Phoenix. In a rather dark turn, Phoenix locks Paddington in the end carriage and causes it to fly off the end of a disused track and into the water below. Mrs Brown literally dives in to rescue him, aided by the surprise appearance of Knuckles, Phibs, and Spoon.

Ultimately, Phoenix is caught, and while the pop-up book is needed ‘for evidence’, everyone in Windsor Gardens ‘clubbed together’ to arrange for Aunt Lucy to come to London so she can ‘see the real thing.’

What the Audience Thought

In The Hollywood Reporter, Leslie Felperin wrote: ‘Paddington 2 won’t save the world, sadly, but its existence makes everything just that tiny bit better and more, well, bearable.’

This is correct, you can’t greatly impact the world with a film about a talking bear, however polite he is, but as Paddington himself says: “Aunt Lucy said, “If you look for the good in people, you’ll find it.”” And this film reminded me of the good and the joy there is in the world, and I think that’s worth a lot.

I think Paddington 2 will remain the greatest in the trilogy as Paddington 3: Paddington in Peru is not directed by Paul King or, to my great disappointment, starring Sally Hawkins, with Emily Mortimer taking over the role of Mrs Brown. People took to Twitter to express their scepticism about these changes, and I have to confess I initially shared it, but the recently-released trailer (featuring Olivia Colman as a nun), has won me over.