5 greatest moments from the Paddington franchise

Paddington is a classic English fictional character from Michael Bond's 1958 children's book, A Bear Called Paddington. He has since appeared in multiple other stories written by Bond, followed by BBC's adaptation of the character into a stop-motion animated TV series in the 1970s, alongside StudioCanal's adaptations into a film series and a TV series in the 2010s.

While he has been a particularly popular character, the success of the 2014 film was unexpected. The film earned a worldwide gross of over $260 million against a $55 million budget. It was also a favourite among critics, winning multiple accolades.

The success of the first film kicked off Studiocanal's franchise of the polite anthropomorphic bear from darkest Peru. The Paddington franchise has since released a sequel film in 2017 and a TV series in 2019, which itself has released three seasons till date.

A still from the upcoming film (Image via Studiocanal)

Now, Studiocanal is gearing up for the release of the third film in the series, Paddington in Peru. The film is set to release first in the UK on November 8, 2024, followed by its U.S. theatrical release on January 17, 2025. The first trailer just dropped last week.

Although the release date is still months away, fans are already excited to see their favorite bear back on the large screen. And for them, we have curated a list of our picks of the greatest and most iconic moments from the Paddington franchise.

So let's catch up with our marmalade-sandwich loving bear from darkest Peru while waiting for his latest film to arrive in theaters.

His real family, and 4 other best moments from the Paddington franchise

1) The naming of the bear

While we all know the lovable bear from darkest Peru with his old red hat as Paddington, that wasn't always his name. According to the source literature, he had a Peruvian name back when he lived with his Uncle Pastuzo and Aunt Lucy. While in the movie, he points out to the Browns that he has a bear name that humans have a hard time pronouncing.

When the Brown family found him alone at Paddington Station in London and decided to take him in for the night, they decided to name him the station where he was found. This is one of the most iconic moments in the story. This moment marks the beginning of the adventures of Paddington, the bear from darkest Peru.

2) Flooding the bathroom

Flooding the bathroom (Image via Studiocanal)

With nowhere for the lonely bear to go to, the Browns decide to host him for the night before taking the necessary steps to get him a home and his guardian. With that in mind, they bring him back home and let him use the bathroom to freshen up before everything else.

However, Paddington was quite unaware of the modern human's bathroom etiquettes or the nitty-gritties of their facilities. This leads to a sequence of his amusing shenanigans in the bathroom which ultimately floods not only the bathroom, but the entirity of the Browns' house.

This particular sequence highlights how alien he is to the everyday world of humans and foreshadows the challenges he would be facing during his days in London.

3) The bear becomes part of the family

Playing with the kids (Image via Studiocanal)

While looking for clues to find the explorer who visited them at darkest Peru, Paddington thwarts and catches a pickpocket after a chase through London. The climax of the chase happens to be right in front of Judy's school, which ultimately leads to Judy looking up to him and accepting him as part of their family.

In their quest to make their father, Mr. Brown, also look at the bear in a positive light, the Brown siblings give him a bath and a dry down. However, when Mr. Brown hears noise coming from the kids rooms, he worries that they may be in danger from the "wild beast", only to find out that they are having fun.

This is a pivotal moment of the story as it shows the tipping point of Mr. Brown, the one who was most opposed to keeping Paddington in the house from the beginning. This also shows the moment that he actually found his loving home in London.

4) The bear doesn't forget his real family

Finding the perfect gift (Image via Studiocanal)

In the second film installation under the franchise, we see Paddington to have settled down comfortably with the Brown family at their home in Windsor Gardens.

Now a regular face in the local community, he heads out to find the perfect gift for his Aunt Lucy on her 100th birthday and finds a pop-up picture book on London.

While the book is the very root of all the problems that follows in the movie, it shows us an important thing about our favourite bear. Although living far away from darkest Peru, comfortable in his life in London, Paddington does not forget about his family back home.

He finds time out to look for the perfect gift for his beloved aunt, not just a passable one.

5) The bear befriends Knuckles

Befriending the prison chef (Image via Studiocanal)

Convicted for the theft of the pop-up book, Paddington is sent to prison to serve his time. While there, he finds the food to be barely edible and raises the issue with Knuckles, the prison chef inmate who is feared equally by other prisoners and security.

In spite of his angry demeanor and his frightful reputation, Knuckles opens up to our favorite bear after tasting his marmalade sandwich.

This is one of the greatest moments in the franchise as this re-instates Aunt Lucy's saying, "if you look for the good in people, you'll find it." This makes for a strong educational moment in the film for the kids watching.

It also reminds us all that people are not just good or just bad. They have a bit of both in them, which ultimately makes us human.

These were some of our top picks of the greatest moments from the Paddington franchise. If we missed out on your personal favorite, be sure to drop a comment down below and let us know which is your favorite moment from the franchise.

The upcoming third film in the franchise is set to release in the U.S. on January 17, 2025, two months after its U.K. release on November 8, 2024.