Paddington Bear is not a new character; his stories have been floating around as early as 1958, and have been adapted into various animated television specials and series, as well as spawning over twenty books and a famous stuffed toy.

However, this new movie likely exposes him to a new generation of children who have never seen the bear before; I would be one of those children. (Well, I'm technically not a "child", but let's not get technical here.)

I went into this movie completely blind of the previous Paddington stories, and based off the previews from the movie, I wasn't really expecting much. It was the "from the producers of Harry Potter" that drew me into the theater to see this.

Am I ever glad I did.

This is one of the best, most whimsical children's movies to come out in years. While other movies/directors rely on cheap humor and fart jokes to make kids laugh, Paddington's slapstick, mischief and general adorableness has a universal appeal to it that will have audiences of all ages rolling. 

The film suspends reality enough to have fun with it, but not enough to the point where it feels unreal to the audience. And that's something that some film directors never master.

Overall, if you're heading out to see a movie this weekend, you can't really do much better then Paddington, despite its kiddy look, no matter what your age. You will come out of it with a smile on your face and feeling your seven-dollar ticket was worth every penny.