Paddington 2 (2017)

It's been said that within the Paddington franchise, the first and third movies are perfectly entertaining flicks, while Paddington 2 is a genuinely good film. After this viewing, I agree: this film is much stronger than the other two both in writing and on message. If I had seen this movie in 2017, it would probably be right up there with Zootopia as one of my favorite animated features. 

Watching this in 2026 though, I somehow felt like I had a lump in my throat the entire time, because this film portrays a world that takes more and more cognitive dissonance to imagine still exists. One of the most satisfying scenes of the film was all the neighbors showing up to help the Browns start their car to help Paddington, running the contemptuous Mr. Curry off the street. It's a moving moment of community strength overpowering fringe cynicism and xenophobia. 

Even in 2017, I would have been convinced that we did, or at least could, live in that world. But today, it's clear we were never there, and maybe will never get there in our lifetime. We live in a world where, far from fringe, half of the people are Mr. Currys. Worse, instead of being a pretend neighborhood watch member, they have money, guns, and power of the state. Hard to imagine the neighborhood folks pushing a barely functioning car through a barricade of trigger-happy cops isn't it? 

Maybe I'm just not in a great mental state this weekend. I wanted to watch something uplifting, and Paddington 2 is definitely in the top 5 percentile for that purpose, but it wasn't enough today. What I did manage to find comfort in, is that even if the whole world turned against them, the Browns would still hold onto and take very good care of Paddington. It would be impossible to feel hopeless, as long as you have Sally Hawkins smiling at you.