Paddington Bear
The "Paddington Bear" series of movies and "Dream Quest" have a lot of similarities, such as children's films, the core is about the family, there are traces of juggling comedy and Westerns, but I believe that most people will talk about the two movies will be very different, talking about "Paddington Bear" will definitely say "funny", talking about "Dream Quest" will definitely say "tears", because they have essential differences.
Dream Quest
Although the concept of Dream Quest comes from mexican Day of the Dead culture, if you rip off these coats, you will find that it is still an uncompromising American story of personal heroism, emphasizing blood-based emotions.
But "Paddington Bear" is different, it is more like a bear version of "True Love Supreme", although the story revolves around the bear named Paddington, but paddington's protagonist is actually not clear, when you think back to "Paddington Bear", you will think of Nucleus, a prison cook who looks cold and inner, will think of the justice who does not smile but is afraid of his wife, will think of Miss Kitts who is full of love in the street corner newsstand, and even will be enthusiastic about "acting" The career-going actor Phoenix praised, and of course you won't forget Mr. Curry, who went all the way against Paddington entering the community and shouted his prejudices everywhere with a loudspeaker.
The concept of the nuclear family celebrated in Paddington Bear refers more to the social feelings built by unrelated strangers, so much so that Mr. Brown's family seems to be more like a family only when Paddington exists, and usually a family with "British indifference" living in their own small worlds.
The Brown family
Comparing Paddington Bear, we will find a very interesting thing, although the film has set the age in the modern era, such as the appearance of the Shard is a proof of the current London world, but it is difficult to see the real modern elements in the film, the most obvious example is that no one uses a mobile phone, not even two children. Instead, steam trains, red telephone booths, antique shops, paper newspapers, playgrounds, and people's dresses all seem to pull you into a truly stagnant fairytale world.
Isn't it strange that a bear appears on the streets of London and you don't see anyone posting a photo on Twitter or Ins in the movie? It's very strange because time seems to stop in Paddington Bear.
"Nostalgia" has been the film and television theme of this decade, whether it is the direct tribute of the popular "Stranger Things" to the 80s of the last century, or the black and nostalgic way of "Ace Agent", the bold modern version of "Sherlock" is actually a nostalgia for the Victorian era. Choosing "Paddington Bear", which was born in 1958, as the object of the film adaptation, its "nostalgia" has been very obvious, which is not explained by the innovative word "IP" that we have changed here, nor is it just an escape from reality, but more of a way to tell the audience that although the times have changed, some things have not changed.
Paddington, London for the first time
Anyone who has seen the first Paddington Bear will not forget the scene where this lonely bear appears at the train station, standing in front of the "Lost and Found" office, hanging a sign that reads "Please take care of this bear", watching people coming and going, in a strange city. This image was not actually invented by the author Michael Bond, but "stole" from a post-World War II newsreel he had seen in which a group of children were sent out of London to enter their foster homes. London, like most large cities, is a "city of immigrants", and the benefit is absolute cultural diversity, and of course, there are many conflicts that can arise, both individually and collectively, especially in a country like Britain, which still advocates a hierarchical cultural system. The reason why "Paddington Bear" can resonate is not only because of the waves of jokes, but also because of the typical image of its protagonist "Stranger".
How many people are like Paddington with a "bear" face, with a little hope, a little humility, a little fear, carrying a broken suitcase to the big city to find a dream? At a time when the "immigration issue" is in the spotlight in the uk as Brexit stands, the story of paddington bears seems to have been re-encapsulated. A Peruvian bear that yearns for London life is wrapped in itself, an indelible nostalgia for the glorious colonial era of the Sun Never Set Empire, Brown's fairytale colorful house is real, the traces of life in Notting Hill are obviously recognizable, the racial mixed environment of the entire neighborhood is politically correct, the only opponents in the community are middle-aged and elderly whites, the villains of the first and second parts, a woman and a man, are white, and this "country" bear faces a London that is even better than imagined.
This "stranger" theme is ultimately solved through love in Brooklyn and Breakfast at Tiffany, and released through violence, sex and brotherhood in Once Upon a Time in America, Paddington Bear as a children's film, through the dreamy and exaggerated form of fairy tales, allowing Paddington as an independent individual to be perfectly integrated into two communities in need and need, one is the street where the Brown family lives, and the other is the prison that Paddington unfortunately enters in the second episode. Paddington made himself an integral part of his community with his love for London.
The prison section is also reminiscent of "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
In addition, in Paddington Bear 2 you can always feel a faint smell of Harry Potter, not only because they are all about how a little boy saved himself and others, but also because the producer is David Heyman of the Harry Potter series, and it may be that the chase scene through the British countryside reminds you of the Hogwarts Express, the delicious desserts in prison remind you of the Hogwarts dinner, and probably because of the Blidan Lee. Gleason's prison cook reminds you of Moody, the mad-eyed Man, and yes, he's exactly who Moody played.
On the left is Richard Ioard, who played Moss in "IT Mania"
Once Hugh Grant
Now Hugh Grant
Like Harry Potter, you can see a bunch of British "drama bones" in Paddington Bear 2, the noisy and annoying Mr. Curry is "Uncle Twelve" Peter Capaldi ("Doctor Who"), the antique shop owner Jim Browder Bent ("Cloud Map"), the church security guard Simon Farnaby ("Bad History"), the court witness forensics commissioner Richard Ioard ("IT Madman") and other familiar faces, this time even the British eternal lover Hugh Grant has subverted himself into a piece" Drama Comedy Star". Such a group of actors who can support a work are all playing a bear in a children's movie, oh, and of course don't forget that the voice actor behind the bear is Ben Weshao, one of the prodigies of British theatre.
It reminds people of a joke that a famous British actor was asked about other British actors and replied: Do you think that British actors know each other? Everyone's hearts answered together: Isn't it?
Paddington Bear 2 is a warm film that you may not have to watch, but after watching it, you will think of all the little luck in life, of course, I prefer to call it "London's large-scale tourist promotional film" according to the British "self-deprecating" style. Literary arguments? A love letter from the creator to London.