I haven’t seen Paddington, and frankly the only reason I decided to watch Paddington 2 is because of it’s insanely high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

The ratings are not exaggerated. This is a beautifully made movie, everything about this movie is good.

I’ll only say this, watching this movie is not unlike reading a Harry Potter book (Hagrid is in the movie!). The story is tactfully written, as if by Rowling herself, but much more cheerful, without any hint of an underlying sadness. Every single scene is a clue to something that happens later, like a well made jigsaw puzzle. The movie might be aimed at children, but the story and the screenplay are genuine works of art.

The plot is comically exaggerated with magicians and circus actors and an adventure across London, like in a Wes Anderson movie, and the quality of humor is also similar, it does not have any of his lateral one-takes though. I had to check afterwards if Wes Anderson had anything to do with this movie, which turns out he doesn’t.

Superbly written, wonderfully acted out, side-splitting humor, a well-mannered bear, undeniably entertaining. Hope they make more.