Paddington 2: An Unexpected Masterpiece

Last week, I had no idea that a movie night I had with my friends would be inspired by a viral joke or that it would be so good. The joke is a clip from last year’s film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent; a comedy film in which Nicholas Cage plays himself visiting a fan. Though I have not seen the movie, I had seen one clip in which Pedro Pascal’s character (Cage’s fan) reveals that his third favorite movie is Paddington 2, saying, “I cried through the entire thing and it made me want to be a better man.” Though Cage finds this ridiculous, there’s a hard cut to him crying at the film himself.

After this clip circulated a group of my friends, we decided we had to watch it. I’m happy to say that it did live up to the expectations that Nicholas Cage gave us. In fact, even those who showed up with the same incredulous reluctance as Cage left with the same complete investment that he had.

The movie itself is still clearly a family movie. It is brightly colored and full of innocent fun and pretty low stakes and an animated bear as the protagonist. Yet this also makes it a perfectly relaxing movie to watch.

As a movie, it followed the archetypal structure of storytelling to a tee and made many references to classic movies that would make any film fan happy.

What really surprised me, however, was the way the movie treated Christianity. Most recent movies, and especially movies aimed at children, usually avoid anything to do with Christianity unless they are outright Christian movies. Many movies, if they are not Christian movies, only mention Christianity as something to be laughed at rather than with. In Paddington 2, this is far from the case. Christianity is treated as a completely regular part of life.

One such scene occurs when Paddington is in jail (yes, he gets arrested, but he’s innocent) and angers a particularly feared prisoner with his clumsiness. An onlooking guard calls for a medic through his walkie-talkie. When things seem to be escalating, he dismisses the need for a medic, instead calling for a priest and the camera shows another prisoner blessing himself.

In another scene, the villain breaks into St. Paul’s Cathedral in London disguised as a nun and escapes dressed as a bishop. His actions are depicted as wrong as he also breaks a statue of an angel looking for a clue. These are only two short scenes but they display Christianity so casually and allow Christianity to be integral to our world in a way that most media seems all too reluctant to do. The film itself especially follows Paddington as he makes the people and places around him better. He is not afraid to confront problems as he sees them, but he takes on every issue with heart. It is this attitude that reminds me of what Christ calls us to, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). If Paddington 2 can inspire Nicholas Cage and a group of college students, I’m sure it can do the same for anyone.