In today’s day and age of remakes, reboots and retreads, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to come across major studio films that are truly worthy of moviegoers’ hard-earned dollars. The probability of finding a quality family film is even less promising, as the desire to pander to younger viewers often proves far too tempting for most filmmakers to ignore (even if they manage to defy formulaic storytelling to create something fresh). Even the once-flawless track record held by Pixar Animation Studios has been tainted in recent years (thanks a lot, Cars 2). These nearly insurmountable odds make Paddington, the new live-action film based on the decades-old British children’s book character, that much more of an accomplishment.

Ben Whishaw (who replaced Colin Firth in post-production) voices the title character, a young bear who ventures off from his native land of “darkest Peru” in search of a new home in London. Soon after he arrives – marmalade sandwich firmly in hat (a running joke that never fails to be adorable) – Paddington comes across the Brown family (led by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins). As time goes by, the bear begins to grow fond of his new human friends, but is this really a family he can call his own?

The answer should be obvious to anyone who has seen more than a few similar fish-out-of-water family adventures, but while the premise of Paddington may feel incredibly familiar to most moviegoers, what it lacks in originality, the film makes up for in sheer charm and sweetness. Whishaw lends a genuine warmth and – along with the solid effects work – his portrayal manages to bring Paddington’s earnestness and naivete to life without coming across as quaint.

In fact, the film’s old-school sensibility – and fierce loyalty to the character’s mythology established in his literary adventures – is its best trait. Modern gross-out humor is kept to a bare minimum (save for one icky gag featuring Paddington’s confusion about the proper use of toothbrushes), and the film makes good use of both Bonneville and Hawkins, both of whom ground the the concept of an articulate, well-meaning bear with ease and aplomb.

However, amid the moments of sly humor and genuine heart, Paddington does make the classic mistake of injecting one too many over-the-top characters. Nicole Kidman is absolutely wasted here as a ridiculous Cruella de Vil-esque villain out to add Paddington to her taxidermy collection. Current Doctor Who Peter Capaldi is also forced to embrace stereotype as the nosy neighbor who gets roped into her scheme, and Oscar-nominee Julie Walters (one of at least four Harry Potter alumni featured in the cast) hams it up as the Browns’ housekeeper, who sure can hold her liquor.

Despite its intermittent forays into the ridiculous, the absurd and the absurdly ridiculous, Paddington truly does shine whenever its lovable title character or his human companions are onscreen. The fact that a live-action film about a squeaky-clean anthropomorphic bear with a penchant for marmalade and the ability to dole out a “hard stare” like nobody’s business even went into production nearly 60 years after his publishing debut (and with a reported budget of more than $50 million, no less) is impressive by any measure. The fact that it also happens to be faithful to the Michael Bond books it’s based on and still strike such a chord with today’s attention-deficit audience is even more of a miracle.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Paddington stars Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters and the voice of Ben Whishaw. It is directed by Paul King and is now in theaters.