Avis des critiques

Paddington is absolutely, positively delightful. This big-screen adaptation of Michael Bond's classic, adorable children's-book character — an exceedingly polite, klutzy, talking bear from "darkest Peru" — takes what could have been an easy cash-grab and turns it into a generous, fun, ingenious little comedy.

In stark contrast to their furry, blundering star, the makers of "Paddington" have colored so carefully inside the lines that any possibility of surprise or subversion is effectively throttled. Perhaps burdened by an excess of respect for Paddington Bear's creator, the children's author Michael Bond, or maybe just unwilling to deter the built-in market for the inevitable movie-related merchandising, the filmmakers have settled on safe.

In a bid for this year's Lord-Miller Prize, writer-director Paul King (The Mighty Boosh) stuffs Paddington—his '90s-style, mostly live-action adaptation of Michael Bond's children's book series—with gags, visual puns, and imaginative framing devices, all the while preserving a sense of easygoing sweetness.

King's sincerity is a blessed reprieve from the snarky, self-aware antics of Shrek and its ilk. No above-it-all smugness here: In the filmmaker's hands, even Nicole Kidman's evil taxidermist villain is given a halfway-sympathetic motivation to explain her desire to track down and stuff Paddington.

Fifty-six years after first appearing in print, the accident-prone Peruvian furball is brought to high-tech but thoroughly endearing life in this bright, breezy and oh-so-British family romp from writer-director Paul King and super-producer David Heyman.