Paddington (Paul King, 2014)

Michael Bond's much-loved books finally hit the big screen, but in a much-altered form from the hand-crafted BBC series of yesteryear. The bear is CGI and now has the obligatory action adventures with breakneck chases and a murderous villain, which is all a great flattener of character, reducing the charm of its uniqueness as it competes on an equal tech and thrills footing with the droves of other computer-rendered fare aimed at grabbing the increasingly short attention span of children. Not that anyone much younger than 40 will know or care, and it does have plenty going for it, with some hilarious sequences of Mr. Beanesque bumbling, knowing asides for the adults and a broad cast of British stalwarts all clearly having a whale of a time. If you have to take the sprogs to something this Xmas, you won't do better, even if it does leave you sighing with nostalgia for a simpler time.

6/10