Paddington really is a character that needs no introduction as thanks to the live action films alot of people seem to know who he is. Yet those same people nine times out of ten don't realise that there was ana animated show with the character and yet it's that show that I find to be really enjoyable so much so that I got the DVD of it for Christmas and will continue to do reviews based off of the series until it's all done and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Paddington go shopping with the episode in question being called simply just "A Shopping Expedition" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is Paddington , Mrs. Brown and Judy Brown go shopping to help find Paddington some pajamas. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the episodes plot being as delightfully simple as you'd expect from his show and yet this is something that doesn't hold the episode back as the episodes plot does shine in how simple it is die to the fact that it allows the characters to be charming and for the world of this show to be more charming because of it with this something that might not be possible if the episode had a more complicated plot and heck even all of the live actions films knew to keep the plot simple as that is something that would allow there characters to be simple and while yes the plots of the films do have to be epic in a sense due to the fact that they are films and we expect that from them we don't have that which is something that does mean a plot that really should be simple remains exactly that simple as a plot about someone going shopping doesn't scream high end gripping television and yet the episodes plot works due to how simple it is as alot of the British public even today can relate to going to shopping to buy any clothes not just pajamas with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is of course Sir Michael Hordern with him even doing something that was totally unexpected. Which is instead of using his usual voice for all of the characters something which he would normally do for this show he does give some of the characters there own unique voices as he gives the salesclerk a more posh sounding voice whilst the store manager is given a more upper class voice but one that's not quite as posh as the sales clerks voice which is something that does make sense as this show is meant to be London and therefor the owners of these types of stores would have more posh sounding voices as would alot of the people that work for them and yet it's also something that makes you wonder why he didn't give the rest of the shows characters there own unique voices as he does nothing to alter his voice when he's playing the Brown family which is fine as he's essentially reading us a story and serving as a storyteller for the show think of the early Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends and what the storytellers on that show usually did as that's what Sir Michael Hordern is doing here in this show and it is something he does really well as he has a splendid voice for animation as his voice is one that is soothing and is relaxing for kids to hear but at the same time tho it would always help if he did give more of the characters in this episode there own unique voice as that would make it alot more easier for us the audience to work out whom is talking and when but to be fair given that he's a narrator for the show it's not really something that he has to do as the episode does work just fine the way that it is but it is something that would make the episode better as it would stop alot of the characters from sounding the same.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With it being made clear as day that the episodes only actor is having alot of fun doing the show as you wouldn't really go to the lengths of giving the characters even if there just small one off characters there own unique sounding voice if you weren't having fun doing the show in the first place with that fun really shining through in Sir Michael Horderns performance with him quite literally being the voice for this show and the fact that the makers of this show managed to get an established actor to do this kids is something that does speak wonders to the character of Paddington Bear as a whole with the episodes best actor also of course being it's only actor as it's clear as day that Sir Michael Hordern really was the best choice to do the voice over work for this show as he speaks his lines with such passion and grace that it almost comes across as him being a fan of the character with him therefor wanting to turn in a good performance because of it and while yes it does help that he was a good actor in his own right the fact that he still managed to turn in a good performance not only in this show but in this episode is still something that is worth talking about with the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes actor has to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of him naturally something which does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode really is the legends and the greats that are currently over at FilmFair. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the episodes animation being of a really high quality in this episode with all of the 2D characters getting some really nice and fluid movements to them which was something that was kind of a surprise as it make you wonder how they animated those characters in the first place due to the fact that the world that the show takes place in is a 3D world and yet you can tell that the animator Barry Leith had alot of fun in animating Paddington and alot of the other characters in the episode all of which are things that do come through in the final episode as while there aren't any impressive shots in this episode that make you wonder how it is that they managed to pull them off the episode purely from an animation point of view still looks really good and while yes granted the episodes animation does look a little bit more dated when compared to the CGI cartoons that kids get together it's the fact that it looks dated that adds a certain charm to the episode as you can see all of the blood , sweat and tears the animators poored into each and every frame of animation in this episode with that being something that you just don't get in more modern cartoons as all of them are now done entirely in CGI and because of that they lack personality and they lack charm so say what you will about this episode and it's animation but the one thing that you can't say is that it lacks charm and personality.
Speaking of charm that's the one thing that this episode is in spades as it's a very charming episode of the show. With this stemming from the fact that the episode does technically finish of a storyline that was started in episode two of this show with Paddington finally getting to London and getting his pajamas and yet what also helps to make the episode be all the more charming is that not only do we get to see Paddington messing things up in his lovable way but we also get to see how the outside world treats him as well something which was hinted at in the previous episode as well as we get to see the sales clerk get flustered when he sees that his customer is a bear who walks and talks and with the manager who gets confused when Paddington falls asleep in shop window bottom line there is plenty of charm to be found in this episode and while yes granted the episode isn't as charming as the first or even second episode for that matter this episode still does have moments in it that remind you of just how good that this show is and could be as we get to see Paddington , Mrs. Brown and Judy Brown all get to be there typical selves which is something that is more then enough for this episode to be a charm filled episode as the characters themselves are very charming characters that you want to see more of and while granted the episode doesn't go into there characters given that this episode is also technically finishing of a plot line it really doesn't have to as both the first and second episodes of this show did all that in the first place with this episode being alot more focused on just giving us these charming characters and letting them do what they do best which in this case results in what could have been seen as being fun episode now being one that's both fun and charming due to the fact that these lovable characters are just being there lovable charming selves.
If there's a few things that this episode gets wrong its the fact that the episode doesn't really take the time to show us how Paddington got himself confused and ended up in the shops store window in the first place. Which ranted is a very minor thing to bring up but it is something that serves as a plot point for the episode as it's due to the that that people start buying the pajamas from this one store in the first place and yet it's something that should have been shown to us the audience like maybe Paddington got himself a bit confused because of the fact that he couldn't really see where he was going and therefor chose the corridor that led to the store window in the first place as that then would have been something and it's somethin that would have made it more understandable in the first place with the other thing that the episode doesn't really get right is the fact that it doesn't show us much of the Browns in this episode which fair enough this is a show called Paddington and therefor he should of course be the main focus of all of these episodes but it still would have been nice to see both Mrs. Brown and Judy appear in more then just two scenes in the episode as that then would help to fully establish them as characters something which the episode could have done and while yes granted it might well have been this have in the book version as well which is fair enough is the show is meant to be adapting the books pretty much word for word but what works well in the books might not always work well in the show with this episode being a prime example of that as while yes this is a really good and funny episode in it's own it's those little things that make the episode feel like it could have been much more better then what it already was in the first place.
This is an episode that is the very definition of a nothing episode and yet this is not a bad thig at all as this episode is only one part of a larger story that being seeing Paddington adapt to life in his new home of London. With this episode and technically the next episode since they are both adaptions of stories from the first Paddington book called "A Bear Called Paddington" this episode is the one that does end the story as the next episode focuses on something else entirely with this episode not having that much going on plot wise as alot of it just revolves around Paddington getting some pajamas and that's it which for a kids show where the average episode of each episode was around five minuets is something that was to be expected but at the same time tho you do still expect there to be more things going on in the episode to help it earn that running time and while yes adapting the stories in order is something that does help with this as while the Browns are learning to trust Paddington so are we the audience it's not really something that goes the other way as we don't get to see Paddington learning to trust the Browns and while the episode doesn't need that as that's something that it could be argued was done in the previous two episodes given that none of this shows episodes touch upon that it still would have been nice to see them start that bond off in someway shape or form and this is the where the first movie does actually fit in really well as they do take the time to show us Paddington learning to trust in this case Mr. Brown and it's something that could have been in these first few episodes as well and while this episode does still work despite the fact that it's a nothing episode one can't help but wonder what this episode would have been like if we did get to see Mrs. Brown and Judy more in the episode and if they did get to play a more active role in the episodes plot.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly five minuets and one second. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this shows regular episodes with the episode having more then plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place as none of this shows episode really need that long of a running time in order to tell there stories as they are only adapting certain parts of the books and therefor they could tell those stories in a shorter running time and the episode would still feel like it had a very satisfactory ending to it and yet this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot and while this is something that could be seen as being a bad thing it is something that does work well enough in the episodes favor as none of this shows episodes really need to fully develop each of there plots as there only adapting certain parts of the books and that's really it and to be fair those don't require plots that are well developed however the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop it's characters either which is something that the episode could have done but at the same time it also didn't need to do as it cold be argued that the other episodes did that which is something that would be fair enough but at the same time tho it would have been nice to find out something about Paddington something which would have made as this was a story from the characters debut book but at the same time it's not something that was needed in this episode tho but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episode having some really funny jokes in it all of which are jokes that work really well as they feel like the kind of jokes that these characters would make which is something that does make this episodes feel very character driven with there not really being a bad joke in the episode as there all jokes that work and land really well in the episode all of which are thigs that do make this episode be all the more better and funnier then what it really had any right to be with the best joke in the hole entire episode being the entire act of the episode as we get to see Paddington get himself confused trying to find the stores dressing rooms only for him to fall asleep in the shops store window which is a really funny idea as it is something that Paddington would do given the fact that he hasn't seen one before now with the episode being filled to the brim with good jokes like Paddington giving the store clerk a hard stare when he starts to have an argument with Mrs. Brown or when he finds out that he slept in the store window he just says that he's been recognized which is a really cute joke and inface that's the best word to describe this episodes jokes as they are cute but they are cute in all of the best ways possible with the makers of this episode really making sure that all of the episodes jokes not only land but land hard in the process in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this episode is a really good episode of the show as while not alot happens in this episode we still get to see the characters be there usual charming selfs as well as jokes that will make viewers both young and old laugh out loud as that's just how good that this episode and it's jokes really are in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.