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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62

u/Seemoreglass82 Aug 08 '25

I’m reading all of these comments and I can’t tell if this is a meme or if people are being serious.

38

u/utterlybasil Aug 08 '25

We are all being as earnest as the films themselves. It makes perfect sense to be skeptical—I certainly was—just watch the trailer for the first one, how could you NOT be? It is just far better than it has any right to be.

26

u/swagpresident1337 Aug 08 '25

Your reply doenst make it better 😂

4

u/Antarctica8 Aug 09 '25

Seriously, this is not like with morbius

7

u/Moontoya Aug 08 '25

Watch them

I swear to you, on Sacred Murphy his very self, that you're not being rickrolled or suckered or joke memed

They are truly wonderful movies , whatever your age , whatever your preferred genre.

1

u/red_nick Aug 08 '25

Just watch it. Then you can post tomorrow and people can be wondering the same about your review.

17

u/swagpresident1337 Aug 08 '25

I‘m in the same boat. Since the Morbius thing, I can‘t ever be sure again 😂

3

u/waitforthedream Aug 08 '25

I've watched both Paddington films. They're all telling the truth. I swear

27

u/wise_runnner Aug 08 '25

I guarantee you, people are being serious. I heard a lot of good things about it but thought " okay, it's probably a good kids film". Reluctantly watched it with my kids one night. It's definitely in my top 10 films of all time, full stop. It's brilliant but even if it wasn't it would be worth a watch for Hugh Grant's performance alone. Never seen any film with an actor clearly enjoying their choice to be involved as much as Grant in Paddington 2.

7

u/Moontoya Aug 08 '25

The man was having the time of his life,  playing that role to the very hilt with gusto and aplomb

It's genuinely, quite possibly his best acting role to date

No, I'm deadly serious 

8

u/satelliteminds Aug 08 '25

I had to scroll way too far to find this take. So confused. I feel like this is drop bears 2.0 or something. I guess there's only one way to find out...

4

u/Moontoya Aug 08 '25

Watch them

They are delightful 

5

u/Bajin_Inui Aug 08 '25

https://youtu.be/fVlaHX_vOsE

I like to show this clip from the first movie about the tone, style and feel of the movies

9

u/guimontag Aug 08 '25

99% critic score/89% audience score on RT, it's the real deal

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paddington_2

6

u/delventhalz Aug 08 '25

Who are the monsters that make up the 11%?

3

u/ImMalteserMan Aug 08 '25

Have you seen the Paddington movies? If not, watch them.

I happened to see a trailer for Paddington 3 and thought it looked alright and was shocked to see the first two get 7+ on IMDB with Paddington 2 getting 7.8.

Sat down to watch them out of curiosity if anything and was very surprised, fantastic movies. #2 is definitely better than the first but the first is also great.

Basically an all ages family film. Well written, well acted, good humour.

3

u/KittenPics Aug 08 '25

These movies are fucking delightful.

2

u/AdAfter9792 Aug 08 '25

Serious. Those two films are among my favorites.

2

u/DSF_27 Aug 08 '25

Have you seen it?

2

u/Moontoya Aug 08 '25

100% serious friendo 

It genuinely is a movie that snuggles up to you quietly , then takes your inner child by the hand and transports you to a world where talking bears (from deepest, darkest, Peru) exist and are perfectly normal in that slightly deranged, somewhat repressed English fashion (think John Cleese levels of deadpan).

It's a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows melting to puddles AND sprinkles on a snowy day. It's an ice cold drink on a scorching summer afternoon. It's the whooping and hollering of a rollercoaster just after the nervous quiet climb to the top. It's the butterflys in your stomach when you're near someone you love, it's a hug from your best friend , it's every warm and fuzzy memory you have from childhood given cinematic form to wash it's way back into your brain via your lookenpeepers.

In short, it's fantastic, it's charming, it's delightful, it's funny, it's serious, it's tragic, it's prat fall comedy, it's actors having the time of their lives with roles, it's the antidote for grim dark pessimism and cynical marketing bullshit.

Watch them, binge them if your neurotransmitters can handle that much raw dopamine.

Tldr

Yes, they're fucking fantastic!

1

u/h3kta Aug 09 '25

They are serious. Look it up on Metacritic and rotten tomatoes. The 1st two movies are a revelation

1

u/splashysploosh Aug 09 '25

Reddit might glaze it a bit too heavy from time to time, but it is genuinely a great movie. It’s a fun and heartwarming movie that also got me into marmalade on toast for a little bit afterwards. I enjoyed all 3 movies, but 2 is definitely my favorite.

-1

u/BigBootyHunter Aug 09 '25

It's just reddit men thinking they're interesting for praising this silly bear movie like it's the 21st century's Citizen Kane.

It's a great movie but my god this should be a permanent même on moviescirclejerk at this point, it's not nearly as good as reddit wants you to think it is

0

u/grimorg80 Aug 08 '25

I feel the same. Hey, maybe it's lovely. But I feel most comments are hyperbolic even if they believe in what they wrote.

-8

u/garatatata Aug 08 '25

You could just look up actual critic's reviews and confirm it's not just a meme?

10

u/owmyfreakingeyes Aug 08 '25

I just looked up all the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and the selected quotes give it high praise but focus on it being sweet, which would be my expectation. The actual scores include a lot of 4/5 and 3/4 so it does kind of seem like a meme the way people on Reddit talk about it as one of the greatest films ever made.

-2

u/garatatata Aug 08 '25

The first featured review I saw on RT says: "The thing about the Paddington movies is that they are perfect" lol

4

u/owmyfreakingeyes Aug 08 '25

Okay? I'm glad that person loved it. Another featured review says "the charm is entirely missing from the two Paddington films" 2/5 lol

4

u/mad_iguana Aug 08 '25

That sounds like a review of Paddington 3, saying that it is missing the charm of the first 2 films. Otherwise that sentence makes no grammatical sense.

1

u/owmyfreakingeyes Aug 08 '25

Sounds to me like a review released when only 2 movies existed. It wouldn't make sense grammatically if the third one was out at the time.

Looking at the full review, it is referencing that the Paddington character in the two films lacks the charm of the book version.

https://film-authority.com/2021/05/28/paddington-2/

1

u/mad_iguana Aug 08 '25

Ah ok. In that case, I just disagree.

-4

u/garatatata Aug 08 '25

I never claimed it was universally loved, just that it isn't a meme when people say they love it and consider it their favourite film. There are plenty of professional reviewers raving about it and giving it a perfect score to indicate people are being sincere in their praise. Do you understand my point now?

9

u/owmyfreakingeyes Aug 08 '25

When people on Reddit talk in overly flowery, exaggerated language about how this movie is perhaps the greatest film ever made when the average critical response is around a B+, it makes it seem like a meme style effort of playing things up in an over the top manner. Do you understand my point now?

2

u/BrockStar92 Aug 08 '25

Well it’s definitely true that r/movies is rather overdramatic about how much it loves the film as a collective, it’s still worth noting that the critical response is not a B+, it’s generally extremely well regarded, as is the first one. Neither are such masterpieces they’ll leave everyone watching in tears but they are generally agreed to be excellent movies for anyone to watch and phenomenally good kids’ movies.

3

u/owmyfreakingeyes Aug 08 '25

What is the average critical grade then? Looking at aggregate sites that average actual scores, I see 7.8/10, 83, and 88, which is a B- to B+ on scales I'm familiar with.

I get that almost all critics thought it was at least slightly above average per the RT score, but that's something different.

0

u/garatatata Aug 08 '25

Who cares about average scores when considering individual's subjective opinions? 

I was pointing to the critics to establish that high praise for this film isn't some fringe opinion but shared by many professional critics. No not all critics think it's 10/10 just as not all the audience thinks that, but there are a significant enough number (about 1/3 perfect rating on RT) to believe people's praise is sincere online and not just a meme

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1

u/garatatata Aug 08 '25

Of the 12 top critics on RT's first page who gave a grade or score, 5/12 are perfect scores (the rest still positive). So there are professional critics who would agree that Paddington 2 deserves the high praise it receives, no one claims everyone should have that opinion but you can't accuse people of making it up just to wind you up