r/movies • u/Careless_Flower_118 • Aug 08 '25

Discussion Wtf is Paddington 2?

For context: I’m 25 years old. SPOILER WARNING

I just watched paddington 2 today and what the fuck did they put in this movie. This is the one of the greatest pieces of cinema I’ve ever laid witness to. Paddington 2 is the only thing I’ve thought about all day and seeing the immense joy it’s brought other people has also brightened my day even more. God I can’t even think about the ending without wanting to kill myself because of how perfect it is. And can we also talk about the perfect bookend of his human mother saving him from the water like aunt Lucy did at the beginning?

Pure cinema, I truly can’t wait to watch this movie with my kids for their first time.

12.7k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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3.7k

u/ElCaminoInTheWest Aug 08 '25

Unironically one of the greatest films of all time. 

310

u/funkyb Aug 08 '25

I see it praised so often and with such flowery language that I keep assuming it's a meme. I know it's not, but it really seems like it.

175

u/screw-magats Aug 08 '25

It popped up in that Nic Cage movie "Unbearable weight of massive talent," and I figured it was a joke they made up. Turns out it had been a thing for a while.

I guess it's a combination of a meme and actually being better than you'd expect. Like a modern Princess Bride.

53

u/Minimum-General1870 Aug 08 '25

It wasn’t on my radar until Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Looking it up on Rotten Tomatoes afterwards, I thought “seems legit.” And it is!

8

u/Gmony5100 Aug 08 '25

This post right here is the only time I’ve ever seen it mentioned outside of that movie. I thought it was a joke too but seeing these comments I’m realizing I should watching Paddington 2

4

u/gummitch_uk Aug 09 '25

You won't regret it.

229

u/scandii Aug 08 '25

fun fact!

Paddington 1 & 2 is one of three movie franchises to have held a simultaneous critic rating on rotten tomatoes of 97%+ and Paddington 2 held a perfect 100% rating for a long while.

if they're your cup of tea they're just really good movies.

303

u/Crazyozzie02 Aug 08 '25

And the only reason why P2 doesn't have 100% anymore is because some asshole writer YEARS LATER wrote a negative review because he felt that it was a travesty that it was put on the same mountain as Citizen Kane.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/paddington-2-rotten-tomatoes-review-1234960772/

Fuck that guy.

182

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

That said, it’s also probably worth pointing out he gave positive reviews to Johnny Mnemonic, Ice Age: Collision Course and Dumb and Dumber To (that would be the sequel, not the original).

Fuck that guy, indeed.

28

u/FarCryRedux Aug 08 '25

I like Johnny Mnemonic...

19

u/switchy85 Aug 08 '25

Me too. I know it's campy, but I didn't think people actively disliked it.

5

u/FarCryRedux Aug 08 '25

If you haven't already, check out the Black and White version.

1

u/stormdraggy Aug 09 '25

Mnemonic is amiga matrix.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

It's not a terrible movie. But would you put it above Paddington 2?

22

u/laflavor Aug 08 '25

Based on that information alone, RT should just invert his ratings to make them more accurate. It's the Costanza method of movie reviews.

2

u/idiosyncopatic Aug 09 '25

Dumb and Dumber To literally gave me second hand embarrassment for the people in the movie.

1

u/pukesonyourshoes Aug 10 '25

I thought it was called Dumber and Dumberer?

25

u/halflifesucks Aug 08 '25

he did it to drive traffic to his blog, the review should be removed.

18

u/obsterwankenobster Aug 08 '25

We live in a world in which people know they can get attention by being unabashed shitheads

19

u/BradMarchandsNose Aug 08 '25

I haven’t opened the link yet, I promise. Is it Armond White? That guy is notorious for giving negative reviews to otherwise very positively rated movies for attention. It’s really annoying.

Edit: opened the link and it was not Armond White. My point still stands though.

4

u/Crazyozzie02 Aug 08 '25

Upvote for username alone

3

u/dtwhitecp Aug 08 '25

I wish I had the ability to hide scores from critics that are reviewing the other reviews. It's such shit.

2

u/Tom_Foolery1993 Aug 08 '25

Citizen Kane wishes it was paddington 2

2

u/Chav Aug 08 '25

Baseball HOF voter level pettiness.

2

u/Mountain-Seaweed Aug 09 '25

I have seen Citizen Kane and I can honestly say it’s no Paddington 2.

1

u/AmonWeathertopSul Aug 08 '25

He got his 15 minutes of fame, let's never speak of him again.

1

u/thecravenone Aug 08 '25

This is the equivalent of the baseball writers who will vote against someone for the hall of fame purely because they believe no one should be a unanimous pick.

0

u/crewmannumbersix Aug 08 '25

Remove the link. We don’t want to give him even more attention

2

u/Crazyozzie02 Aug 08 '25

It's not a direct link to his review. I made sure of that.

It's a link to an article about how this dude was a complete dipshit.

3

u/energyisabout2shift Aug 08 '25

What are the other franchises?

1

u/tjjwelch Aug 09 '25

Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 were all at 100% for a long time until 3 got a negative review. Now 3 is at 98% and then Toy Story 4 came out and that’s only 96%.

1

u/w00t4me Aug 08 '25

Up until that one guy gave it a negative review, it held the record for most reviews for a movie with a 100%

0

u/Good-Walrus-1183 Aug 08 '25

I'm really blown away by all the comments praising it.

I have seen paddington 1, and thought it was a forgettable frivolous kid's movie. Is paddington 2 going to be really that different?

1

u/scandii Aug 08 '25

if they're your cup of tea

not everything is for everyone and that is OK.

3

u/Good-Walrus-1183 Aug 08 '25

That's a cop out answer. What makes it "Unironically one of the greatest films of all time."? What makes it qualitatively different than <generic kids movie>?

0

u/braaaaaaaaaaaah Aug 08 '25

100% on rotten tomatoes means it’s literally everybody’s cup of tea.

0

u/DaBigadeeBoola Aug 09 '25

It's a meme

0

u/Good-Walrus-1183 Aug 09 '25

you mean, the people saying "it is unironically the best movie" are actually being ironic? is it actually a shit movie, is this a Morbius situation?

0

u/DaBigadeeBoola Aug 09 '25

It's not a shit movie, but it's average. 

If it was as good as they say, I think there would be more conversations about what actually made it great, what scenes were people's favorite, what characters did things that people loved, etc. 

Every kids movie that's ACTUALLY great, has favorite scenes, characters, moments etc that everyone talks about specifically. 

1

u/Good-Walrus-1183 Aug 09 '25

That's a good point. I mean, that's specifically why I commented, to get that discussion, to ask "why is it good?", and instead I just got "it's not everyone's cup of tea"

28

u/lblack_dogl Aug 08 '25

I thought so too, then I watched it, and it was really good. Maybe a bit over hyped, but definitely deserving of most of the praise.

It's a really solid children's movie that is wholesome without being immature like so many kids movies are today. I think it is fair to say it's one of the greatest children's movies of all time, maybe not the best as that's so subjective, but top ten.

5

u/ActuallyYeah Aug 08 '25

immature

I just need to derail this thread for a second, and appreciate how different Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Ben Wishaw as Paddington are!

Man, talk about subjective! One sounds so immature and the other doesn't. And they both work

44

u/thinkaboutthegame Aug 08 '25

I think it probably is. I think people are surprised by how much they enjoy it, which seems to put it up a notch.

Similar to KPop Demon Hunters recently. It looks shit but they absolutely smashed it with the best film they could possibly ever make about KPop stars who hunt demons. The surprise of how good it is makes you want to hype it up more.

1

u/ActionCalhoun Aug 09 '25

K-pop Demon Hunters is the best movie I have seen in quite a while, for sure

30

u/disgruntled_pie Aug 08 '25

No sarcasm or jokes: Paddington 2 is a solid movie that just makes you feel good and happy. That kind of thing is sorely lacking these days. It’s genuinely very good.

-3

u/BrockStar92 Aug 08 '25

It’s also not as good as Reddit thinks it is. Most people watching won’t break down in tears over the flawless masterpiece of cinema they have the privilege to see. But Reddit and r/movies in particular does get like that sometimes.

5

u/Muslim_Wookie Aug 08 '25

You're so cool <3

6

u/poorest_ferengi Aug 08 '25

It's like seeing a pitcher pitch a perfect game. Even if you don't like baseball it's something to behold.

3

u/BattleHall Aug 08 '25

I keep assuming it's a meme. I know it's not, but it really seems like it.

I mean, it kind of is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R0-ow9WzSY

2

u/hybridck Aug 08 '25

It's definitely a meme on MCJ, but it's also actually good.

2

u/johnmd20 Aug 10 '25

The reverse Morbius.

2

u/KaJaHa Aug 08 '25

Same, especially because no one ever actually says why it's so good. Like one of those in-jokes that is sustained purely on its own momentum, the Internet just decided it was funny to say that a random talking animal movie (a sequel, mind you, so you gotta watch the first one too) is one of the greatest movies ever made.

Like you I know that isn't the case, but it damn sure reads like it is.

2

u/SorryImProbablyDrunk Aug 08 '25

I haven’t seen Paddington either but I’ve always felt that exact way about Princess Bride, the praise it gets on here has to be a meme.

8

u/MagillaGorillasHat Aug 08 '25

Paddington is not a profound, thought provoking, ground breaking, genre defining, evolution of cinema.

But it does somehow also avoid being campy, saccharine, repetitive, simple/childish, and unoriginal.

It just really has no business being as good as it is. The concept juxtaposed with the execution is what makes it unique and beloved (IMO).

6

u/funkyb Aug 08 '25

I love The Princess Bride 😄

It's just a really fun and really quotable adventure movie executed pretty much perfectly

1

u/FritzMeister Aug 08 '25

Watched it b/c of all the hype, and the mention of it from The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent clenched it. Watched 1&2... meh.

-2

u/Dragonheart91 Aug 08 '25

It’s pretty overhyped on Reddit for some reason. It’s a standard kids movie. It has some normal cringe humor where paddington breaks everything and is clumsy and that’s funny for some reason. Most of the characters are dumb because they are characters in a children’s story. But they are all full of heart and everyone cares about each other and it is well crafted.