Paddington Bear Film Scenes Unsuitable For Children

The 88 year old creator, Michael Bond was shocked with surprise when the new Paddington Bear film was given a Parental Guidance rating.

A PG certificate means some scenes may be unsuitable or unsettling for young children under the age of eight. Children's films are generally expected to be given a Universal certificate, allowing any child to watch them.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) revealed the rating on its website, explaining that the film contained "dangerous behaviour, mild threat, mild sex references (and) mild bad language".

It said "infrequent scenes of dangerous behaviour" included Paddington hiding in a fridge, while "mild threat" was seen when a villain "threatens to kill and stuff" the famous bear.

Among the "mild sex references" is a "comic sequence in which a man disguised as a woman is flirted with by another man".

However, it later dropped phrase "mild sex references and substituted "innuendo", while also clarifying that the swearing was "infrequent".

Author Michael Bond, who makes a cameo appearance in the film, was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying: "I'm totally amazed.

"I'd be very upset ... I can't imagine what the sex references are. It doesn't enter into it with the books, certainly."

Paddington Bear is one of the best-loved characters from the world of children's books - some 35 million copies of the bear's adventures have been sold since the first was published in 1958.

The new live-action film tells the story of Paddington's journey after being despatched from his native jungle in Peru and smuggled on board a boat to England.

It features the voice of Ben Whishaw as Paddington himself, with Downton star Hugh Bonneville, Dr Who's Peter Capaldi and Nicole Kidman also playing leading parts.