My children had the chance to read the Paddington books, as did I. They were harmless, funny and engaging, and I remember being amazed at how funny they were, as a child, and that books could be funny. But this is not Paddington. To start with, what's all that rubbish about the explorer? It's for very young children, who can suspend belief and relax into a story - they don't need explanations as to how and why. Then the house (someone else has mentioned it) is not a normal middle of the road house, the humour changes and becomes over the top slapstick stuff with the bathroom scene. And a menacing taxidermist? What's that about? This is a story/set of stories for very young children who don't need to have the Bekesy's scared out them. Why not let kids just be kids and not have scary stuff forced at them? We have a couple of generations of screwed up kids, why make it worse? An innocent lovely work of children's literature has been adulterated and I shall spend months trying to get the rubbish out of my head. If it's not a crime, it's a sin to do this to Paddington!
Review of Paddington
