Paddington is a 2014 comedy film, directed by Paul King and written by Hamish McColl. The film is produced by David Heyman who is known for producing all eight installments of the Harry Potter film series. The film stars Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman. The film was produced by Heyday Films and StudioCanal and was released in the UK on November 28, 2014. The overall budget of the film consist of a low $50 to 55 million budget compared to the other live action and CGI films with well known actors.

The reason why I bring up this CGI/anamorphic and live action film in particular is because Paddington the bear is the star character of the movie that was brought to life by author Michael Bond. Paddington the bear is a fictional character in children’s literature and first appeared in stories in 1958. He’s been featured in more than twenty books and was first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum. Paddington has also been created for television cartoons, tv shows, comics and stuffed animal merchandise. Paddington has grown to be a UK icon on television but also internationally. He was featured on the Royal Mail 1st class stamp in 2006 and Google celebrated his 50th anniversary on 2008. Google decided to celebrate Paddington’s anniversary by placing an image of the travelling bear with a sign showing Peru and London incorporated in the Google’s logo.

The films premise describes a  young bear originally from Peru with a passion for all things British travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington station, he begins to realize that city life is not all he had imagined. This is until he meets the kindly Brown family, who read the label around his neck—”Please look after this bear”—and offer him a temporary haven. The film has received generally positive reviews and has a 77 % rating on Metacritic. Guy Lodge of Variety praised the film for ” honoring the everyday quirks of Bond’s stories, while updating their middle-class London milieu.”