Paddington Is the Perfect Film to Bring Everyone Together This Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend is a great time for movies. Once the turkey is done and the dishes are put away, you're hopefully in a house full of family with a fridge full of leftovers, and unless you're a football fan, you're sort of just lounging around looking for something to do. Watching movies as a family, whether on the couch or in a theater, seems like a perfect fit for that situation. 

But of course, you have to curate these movies. You can't just throw on any old thing. You want a film that'll please everyone, and depending on your family, that's sometimes harder to find than it sounds. And if you're really ambitious, you might be thinking about going a step further, selecting a film that's not just going to avoid complaints, but give everyone a warm, cozy, familial feeling as Thanksgiving wraps up and Christmas starts to poke its head up in your house. 

Fortunately for everyone, Peacock has the perfect film for just such an occasion, and it's a delight that everyone can enjoy: Paddington.

Why You Should Watch Paddington This Thanksgiving

Paul King's 2014 film Paddington, based on the beloved children's character of the same name created by Michael Bond, begins as a clear fish-out-of-water comedy. Paddington Bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) grew up in a family of bears who, thanks to a visit from an English explorer years earlier, are obsessed with England, its culture, and its marmalade. After a family tragedy, Paddington decides to do what his relatives couldn't, and finally visit England to fulfill a long-held dream in his household.

Paddington is kind, curious, optimistic, and generally adorable, but he is, after all, just a bear standing in the middle of London, with no idea of where to go or how to find food, shelter, or really anything else. Fortunately, Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins) happens to pass by, along with her family, and decides to take Paddington in until he's able to find a better, more permanent living situation. Hilarity, strangeness, and life-changing beauty ensue, often to the chagrin of Mary's risk-averse husband, Henry (Hugh Bonneville). 

The brilliance of Paddington is twofold, and its starts with a sense of comforting familiarity. You might not have seen this particular movie before, but you've seen others like it, whether we're talking about Elf or Lilo & Stitch. Paddington is an outsider with strange ways who doesn't know how things work, and of course his human minders are amused and sometimes annoyed by this, whether he's flooding the bathroom or just generally not knowing the use of very basic things. He's also, crucially, in some very real danger thanks to the machinations of a rogue taxidermist (Nicole Kidman) who's decided she wants him for her collection. 

The Brown Family appears in Paddington (2014). Photo: Paddington TRAILER 1 (2014) - Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville Movie HD/Rotten Tomatoes Coming Soon YouTube

You can see where all of this is going, but Paddington doesn't care if you can see, because it's going to inundate you with the sheer force of its charm. King, rather than trying to shift the formula, embraces it, and layers in joke after joke, detail after detail, making his Paddington into an endlessly rewatchable cornucopia of humor and heart. There's a big difference between a formulaic movie that's just thrown together and one that's made with care, and Paddington emerges as one of the most care-filled versions of this story you've ever seen. It's simply so beautifully handled that you get happily lost in its world. 

Then there are the narrative layers brushed in alongside those primary colors that make up the film's basic plot. Paddington is, after all, not just a bear in the human world, but an immigrant, a native of Peru who arrives in a strange country and has no idea how to care for himself. He's not stupid or reluctant or standoffish, he's just... new. But more importantly, the film stretches beyond this very basic metaphor and makes clear that the Brown family is also a group of strangers in their own homeland. They've sort of forgotten, through the hustle and bustle of life, how to really enjoy what they have, how to find comfort and happiness in the simple things in which Paddington delights. Everyone has to learn and grow, not just Paddington, and not just cold-hearted Henry Brown. That makes the film a remarkably dense experience of coming together, of finding and seeking the most fulfilling things in life, and of the power of simply caring. All of that adds up to make it the perfect post-Thanksgiving viewing experience.

So, if you're looking for the right film to put on with the family this holiday season, make it Paddington. Whether you're never seen it or you've seen it 20 times, it always has something new to offer.

Paddington is now streaming on Peacock.