‘Paddington 2’ Is No Longer the Top Movie on Rotten Tomatoes Because of One Bad Review

The 2017 sequel “Paddington 2” is one of the most adored films of the 21st century, with fans among adults and kids alike. Director Paul King’s beloved story of the joy-spreading bear was also considered to be the top-rated film of all time on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with a whopping 100-percent score. Well, now that’s changed, as one rotten review scrounged up from 2017 and now added to the film’s page has dropped the score to 99 percent.

The review comes from Film Authority writer Eddie Harrison, who found the movie to be “contrived and ridiculous,” adding, “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. This is not my Paddington Bear, but a sinister, malevolent imposter who should be shot into space, or nuked from space at the first opportunity.”

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While this shouldn’t mar the legacy of “Paddington 2” (which also earned nearly $228 million at the global box office), the new is most definitely rankling fans on Twitter. And even still ahead, “Paddington 3” is in the works from Studiocanal, who said back in February that they are working on the film “with the utmost craft and care — as with film 1 and 2.” Director Paul King, who helmed the first two films, said he was unlikely to return for a third movie. He’s currently attached to direct Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka in an upcoming origin story about the iconic chocolatier imagined by Roald Dahl at Warner Bros.

Now according to Rotten Tomatoes’ highest-rated films list, there is no movie with a 100% score. Back in April, Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” saw its 100-percent score drop to 99 percent thanks to a bad review resurfaced from the time of the film’s release in 1941.

If you need a reminder of the greatness of “Paddington 2,” here’s this from IndieWire’s review of the movie when it opened in the United States in 2018: “Less than a week into the new year, and it’s already here: the best film of 2018. Surely there will be others, but for now, Paul King’s charming followup to his charming 2014 original feature, based on the beloved children’s stories penned by author Michael Bond, is as good as it gets among new releases. The rare sequel that improves upon the original, and in turn makes the still rarer case for a franchise to continue on as long as it possibly can, ‘Paddington 2’ is about as clever and sweet a crowdpleasing as any movie — not just one primarily aimed at the younger set and their families.”

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