Paddington 2 Is the Kindest Movie Ever Made

There is a stretch halfway through Paddington 2 where a small bear in a prison uniform, which he has accidentally dyed pink, teaches the prison cook to make marmalade. Within a few scenes the whole place has turned into something close to a tearoom. That is the movie, really. It believes that being polite to people changes them.

The plot is simple. Paddington wants to buy his Aunt Lucy a pop-up book of London for her hundredth birthday. The book is stolen by Phoenix Buchanan, a vain, washed-up actor played by Hugh Grant, who is having the time of his life. Paddington is blamed and sent to jail.

What director Paul King understands is that kindness is not the same as softness. The film is fast, packed with visual jokes, and built like a clockwork toy. Almost every small detail in the first half pays off in the second. It is as carefully made as any thriller.

Verdict: five marmalade sandwiches out of five. Watch it with someone you love, or someone you would like to be nicer to.