If I remember correctly, our family has been waiting to see Paddington since last summer when we first saw the trailer for it, before Planes: Fire and Rescue.
I was so excited to take my family to see it the weekend of Christmas, as the posters advertised, only to learn that was the premiere in England, not the United States.
But finally, Saturday morning at 10:30, we saw Paddington on opening weekend here in America!
I went into it knowing it was going to be good (it currently has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes!), as all the reviews have been extremely positive, and knowing Paddington was made by the producers of Harry Potter.
This made my son’s first movie in a theatre that wasn’t a cartoon. I didn’t think about that until near the end of the movie as I noticed him getting a little antsy.
Here’s what that tells me: While I definitely would recommend Paddington to anyone, I would be cautious to take a child younger than 4 years old, which is how old my son is.
I noticed that the kids sitting in the theatre that were younger than him couldn’t handle sitting through the movie so easily.
However, the kids older than him were glued to the screen.
If your child 4 years old or older, I say definitely take them to see Paddington!
My wife and I teach a 5th grade Sunday School class and I mentioned to some of the students that we had just seen Paddington the morning before.
They immediately responded in excitement as they all told me how much they loved the movie.
The goal of me writing these “Family Friendly Movie Reviews” is help other parents know if a particular movie is age appropriate for their child.
For Paddington, other than making sure your child truly has the attention span to sit through a 90 minute movie with “real people” and a well animated CGI bear, I have no other concerns.
Please know that I am a detective when it comes to find inappropriate language in movies. There is not word a single “cuss word”, nor any sexual innuendoes, in Paddington.
It is rated PG, but for what I call the Disney reason: It contains themes of death, along with mildly intense action sequences.
If you were paying me to just really nitpick the language, in the beginning of the movie when the English explorer finds Paddington’s family in Peru and realizes they are a strange breed of bears who can talk, the man’s response is, “Good Lord!”
I just recently wrote a post (Why “The D-Word” Is Considered A Cuss Word , Or, Why I Think “OMG” Is Just As Bad As “G.D.”) talking about how using God’s name in a non-religious context is overlooked these days.
Instead, mainstream America is more concerned with “cuss words” they deem more offensive than breaking one of the Ten Commandments, which is to not take the Lord’s name in vain.
So there.
If that’s the worst I can come up with in regards to perceivable inappropriateness, then you can clearly see Paddington is not a PG rated movie that you have to worry about taking your kids to…
As long as you believe they can handle sitting through 90 minutes of a well-produced, beautifully shot, well-acted and written movie with a loveable, innocent, English gentlemen of a bear.
It’s a solid, heartwarming, fun, family movie. I’m so glad we went to see it!
Family Friendly Daddy Blog 