Paddington 2 (2018)

  I don't get the hype around this movie.  I watched the original with my godchildren and it was so boring I didn't even review it.  I wasn't going to watch the sequel but it was on so many top ten lists and had such rave reviews that I thought it must have made some major improvements.

Paddington (Ben Whishaw) loves living with the Brown family in London but is worried about finding a special gift for his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) for her 100th birthday.  He finds a pop-up book of London landmarks in an antique shop but as it is one of a kind, it is very expensive.  He takes a series of odd jobs to try and make enough money, only to have the book be stolen and Paddington arrested for the crime.  In prison, he tries to make the best of things while the Brown family search for the real culprit.

This is an absolutely bog-standard children's movie.  There's nothing especially clever or unique about it.  The performances are good but one look at the cast list will tell you that.  

I was irked by one particular aspect -- the conflation of "kind" with "stupid".  Paddington is portrayed as sweet-natured, always ready to give the benefit of the doubt, but also kind of dumb.  And the villain is clever but rude and sarcastic.  It just bugged me.  Like being nice and smart is somehow inherently manipulative, instead of a conscious choice.

It's currently streaming on Hulu if you're trying to find a movie for your toddler.