An unfathomable gift ... a flashback to baby Paddington, all on his own, clutching a log in a perilous river — and at the end, which shows Paddington with his bear tribe in present day.

In “A Bear Called Paddington,” the bear from Peru who is adopted by a kindhearted family in London innocently gets into trouble. When I reread a Japanese version translated by Kyoko Matsuoka ...