StudioCanal’s acclaimed sequel Paddington 2 has set a new record on movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, where it has toppled Toy Story 2 to become the best-reviewed movie of all time.
The Paul King-directed film, a follow-up to 2014’s box office smash, has scored 168 ‘fresh’ reviews, without a single ‘rotten’. That puts is ahead of Disney’s Toy Story sequel, which has 163 positive reviews and no negatives.
“It’s incredibly gratifying,” King tells Deadline. “It’s such a strange process making these films which are preposterously labor-intensive. Normally you feel a film is coming into shape fairly quickly, but when it’s semi-animated so much of it evolves over the following year and you spend so many dozens of hours in darkened rooms looking at incredibly small details. You get incredibly meticulous and controll-y over every last frame. But there’s a danger you entirely lose your mind — and there’s an extraordinary moment when your head comes above water and the first response is from critics.”
Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird also passed Toy Story 2 for positive reviews this past November, although a single negative review subsequently knocked its Fresh rating down to 95%.
SEE ALSO: Read our reviews of Paddington 2 here and here
The much-anticipated sequel to the worldwide hit family film finds Paddington happily settled with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens, where he has become a popular member of the community, spreading joy and marmalade wherever he goes. While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy’s hundredth birthday, Paddington spots a unique pop-up book in Mr. Gruber’s antique shop, and embarks upon a series of odd jobs to buy it. But when the book is stolen, it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief…
Paddington 2 stars returning cast members Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Imelda Staunton, and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington alongside new additions Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Ayoade, and Noah Taylor.
