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Paddington 2 loses perfect Rotten Tomatoes score after bad review calls the character ‘snide and sullen’

Toy Story 2 is now considered a better film than the beloved British sequel

Annabel Nugent
Saturday 29 May 2021 16:55 BST
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Paddington 2 Trailer

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Paddington 2 no longer has a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes after one negative review was added to the site.

The live-action comedy based on the stories of Paddington bear quickly became a fan-favourite upon its release in 2017. The film – which stars Hugh Grant, Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins – earned three Bafta nominations, including Best British Film.

Paddington 2 recently became “the new best film” after Orson Welles’ classic Citizen Kane lost its decades-long 100 per cent rating due to a newly discovered negative review from 1941.

Now, however, the sequel has met a similar fate with a new review knocking the comedy down to a 99 per cent score.

The review was written by critic Eddie Harrison for Film Authority and took to task the film adaptation for deviating from Michael Bond’s original children’s books.

He called the film’s bear “over-confident, since and sullen”, adding that “considerations of race and identity, key to the Paddington character, are not addressed”.

“I reviewed Paddington 2 negatively for BBC radio on release in 2017, and on multiple occasions after that, and I stand by every word of my criticism,” writes Harrison, per The Hollywood Reporter.

The beloved sequel follows the adventures of Paddington (voiced by Ben Wishaw) as he attempts to find the perfect birthday gift for Aunt Lucy.

Fans of the film, however, can take solace in the knowledge that a third Paddington film is in the works.

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