Paddington Bear the Movie With A Preschooler

When grandma and grandpa went to London this summer they came back with a stuffed Paddington Bear and a board book telling his story for Alyssa. We read that book many times so she was super excited when she started seeing commercials on TV for the Paddington Bear Movie. Although at 3 1/2 Alyssa still doesn't quite sit through entire movies without losing interest I decided to take her.

I chose a Tuesday matinee showing because a) it meant less money wasted if she didn't sit through it and b)I figured most kids would be in school so the theater hopefully wouldn't be too crowded. We invited grandma to come along for a three generation girl's afternoon outing.

We bought Alyssa a big bag of popcorn (the key to keeping her quiet during a movie) and settled into our seats. I was right in thinking the theater wouldn't be very full but I was surprised by how diverse the small audience was. Everyone from families with young children to single young adults to several elderly couples were there to enjoy the movie. After watching the movie I can truly say that Paddington is one of those rare movies that appeals to all ages.

The movie began with a full 25 minutes of previews and commercials. If you are bringing a very young child and have another adult along with you this is something you might want to keep in mind if your child doesn't sit still for long periods of time or has a shortened attention span. The previews were all family friendly but a lot of them were for movies geared towards elementary age kids and above vs toddlers and preschoolers. By the time the previews and commercials were over Alyssa had already started to get antsy, told us in a not so quiet voice all about her morning at preschool, asked several times where Paddington was, and eaten her way through a very good portion of her popcorn. In hindsight I wish I'd taken her for a walk in the hallway outside the theater until just before Paddington started because it was definitely way too many previews for her to sit quietly through.
Once Paddington finally started Alyssa's attention span got a little better. The bears appear in the movie right away and that captured her interest right away. Alyssa was very excited to see the cute bear characters. Without giving the movie away I will say the first part has a slightly scary and sad part but it didn't seem to bother Alyssa too much. Death is implied but it never actually outright says they died and I'm pretty sure that inference was over my 3 1/2 year old's head. She enjoyed watching the bears' antics and following along with Paddington's adventures.
After the slightly scary and sad part was over and Paddington ended up in London Alyssa momentarily lost interest. She seemed to be the exception though because the other little kids in the theater were all quiet and most were still focused on the screen. Alyssa was content enjoying her popcorn and studying the back of the theater in an effort to figure out where the movie was coming from (typical of her...she has always been very interested in how everything works).
Once Paddington started interacting with his new family more and getting into some sticky yet humorous situations Alyssa's interest returned. She laughed a lot while she watched Paddington's behavior in the bathroom that eventually ended up with him flooding the bathroom and riding the bathtub down the stairs (the scene you see in the commercials). At the end of the movie she declared that this was her favorite part. This part of the movie was funny and fun and appealing to all ages. Nothing overly scary about it.

Shortly after this we are introduced to the villain. Alyssa knew she was the villain but for the most part (and most of the movie) was not very frightened by her. The only times she found the villain to get a little scary and buried her head in grandma's lap were the times when the villain was going directly after Paddington. We reassured her that Paddington would be okay every time and all was fine after that. As it true of most kid friendly movies this one had a happy ending and Alyssa liked that very much.

Paddington Bear is rated PG but did not contain any vulgar language. I believe the PG rating is due mostly to the very mild violence, and very mild it was. There was one scene where characters are playing a drinking game and another where the villain threatens a taxi driver and we don't quite know his fate but they were minor parts of the movie and both were over my 3 1/2 year old's head. There is also a scene that involves cross dressing that my 3 1/2 year old just found to be funny like everyone else in the audience and the shooting that occurs is with tranquilizer darts vs actual guns. Alyssa understood that they were something bad but the darts didn't look really scary and I know she doesn't understand the whole concept of taxidermy yet.

Paddington was funny, fun, and full of adventure. Other than briefly in the beginning when Paddington first arrived in London it held my 3 1/2 year old's attention very well. All three generations of our family really enjoyed it. It is definitely a family friendly movie that can be enjoyed by all ages. I give Paddington the movie two thumbs up!