“Paddington 2” Replaced “Citizen Kane” As The Top Movie On Rotten Tomatoes

Citizen Kane’s rep as the ‘greatest film ever made’ has finally come to a screeching halt after eighty years.

17 thoughts on ““Paddington 2” Replaced “Citizen Kane” As The Top Movie On Rotten Tomatoes

  1. I rarely watch movies (or read books) more than once but now I’m forgetting things, so doing it a bit. OTOH, seen Kane a few times, more than Blade’s about 4 times, Godfather once, Casablanca often. Not quite my fave, but among them. Defending Your Life doesn’t stand up as well to seeing over. Same for Princess Bride. My attitudes toward Defending & say, Knocked Up are much different from my original takes. You see why I don’t put too much stock in ranking apples v. oranges & picking favorites, including colors. I wish someone could save me the time of watching & deciding for myself, but no one can pick ’em like me. I’m in a bubble & it’s a singularity. I imagine so are y’all. And that’s the name of that tune.

    1. Speaking of Hugh Grant, About a Boy & Love Actually are among those with viable objections to that I was oblivious to at the time. My initial takes were nothing but positive. Now I’m wishy-washy.

      Laura Linney’s still the bees knees, her segment was the best, even if I hated her character’s decision & I don’t cotton to all the rational explanations people give for their failure to respond emotionally to this film. It’s the emotional response that divides us. No explanation is needed or suffices.

  2. I know numerous people who believe Paddington 2 is a very special movie, a modern masterpiece. No joke.

    1. It’s actually pretty good. Not compared to other kids movies, but good-good. Part of that is that you go in expecting…a sequel to Paddington. But Hugh Grant has so much fun playing a spoof of himself, and all the other actors are solid, the script is funny without being overly proud of itself.

      1. If you go in expecting a sequel to Paddington, that likely means you have seen Paddington.

        I have to admit, now I’m intrigued. Can one just watch P-2 cold?

        1. OK, I confess that curiosity got the better of me and I actually watched Paddington 2. It is a very charming kid’s movie, and though I can’t believe I am writing these words, I really enjoyed Hugh Grant.

          (Trivia: “I really enjoyed Hugh Grant” has been certified by Guinness as the rarest sentence in the English language.)

          Hughie actually does some acting in this – does a variety of accents in character as a grade-B thespian, does a dog food commercial while costumed as a dog, and even does some singing and dancing in a final scene ripped from the Mel Brooks playbook. (Think “Prisoners of Love.”)

          Although the character he plays is not named Hugh Grant, he kinda does for his own persona what Bill Shatner did in Free Enterprise and Matt LeBlanc did in “Episodes” – he portrays himself as all the bad things people ever said about him – the humble brags, the smug air of self-importance, the false modesty, the forced charm, and the whole sense of “Hey, didn’t he used to be somebody? What happened to him?”

          Oh, to answer somebody’s question above, this movie stands alone completely. You don’t need to know anything about its predecessor.

        2. “I checked into a hotel. They had a little book listing all their cable movies, they were listed alphabetically. The first one was called Anal Intruders 2. I called down to the desk, said I was interested but I hadn’t seen Anal Intruders 1. It all worked out, he talked me through the first one.”

  3. If Citizen Kane hadn’t been made when it was, but was released this year instead, how many people would consider it a great film? The reason it is considered the greatest film of all time is because it was a trailblazer, the first film to use a then innovative narrative structure as well as then unique editing techniques. The problem is that when people who aren’t film students watch it for the first time today it can come across as derivative because of how many films have copied from it over the last 80 years. In my opinion the greatest film of all time is The Godfather. I have seen Citizen Kane and Gone With the Wind (the 2 films often ranked ahead of the Godfather in lists of the greatest films of all time) once each. I haven’t had any particular desire to watch either film again. But I have seen the Godfather dozens of time because whenever I come across it on TV I end up watching it through to the end. But I haven’t seen Paddington 1 or 2 yet. Perhaps I should.

    1. Personally, I never pass up a chance to watch Casablanca. That doesn’t mean it is the best movie of all time by any objective standard, but it seems to be my favorite. I also get roped in every time Blade Runner is on.

  4. I do see that Paddington 2 is rated a 7.8 on IMDB, while Paddington is only a 7.2. So it is one of those rare instances where the sequel is better than the original.

    Too bad Orson Wells isn’t around to do Citizen Kane 2.

  5. Does it seem weird that RT would go dredge up an 80 year old review? Seems like someone *wanted* to displace Kane’s 100% fresh rating.

    Of course, if there’s anyone in the planet who truly thinks Paddington Bear is a better film than Citizen Kane, they should seek help immediately.

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