He is a cute bear with a blue raincoat and a red hat. But the British family movie Paddington makes it perfectly clear that its subject is also an illegal immigrant - a refugee who arrives in London after stowing away on a ship. This was part of the attraction for Nicole Kidman

"That it actually had something to say definitely made it more appealing," the Oscar-winning actress said ahead of the movie's opening this week. "It's about, we embrace strangers and people with cultural differences - and that's an important message right now, particularly for young people."

In a comic performance, Kidman plays a villainous taxidermist who wants to stuff the bear after his arrival from the Peruvian jungle, in writer-director Paul King'scharming take on the famous children's book. "Let one bear in and soon the street will be full of them," her character sniffs.

She believes the movie's theme of kindness to an outsider from another culture is valuable for the children who will see it.

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"It's an important thing to be constantly reminding our children: be kind, take care of each other," she said.

But while recognising the topicality of the issue, Kidman is wary about commenting directly on how Australia has handled the issue of refugees arriving by sea.

"I don't know enough about it," she said. "I don't know the solution to it. All I know is we have to take care of each other.

"If there's inhumanity occurring, that's not right. But it's an incredibly complicated discussion for any country right now - America as well.

"It's a really, really hot topic [but] we do have to be humane. That's what we're here to be: compassionate and humane."

Paddington, which also stars Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins as parents of a family who take in the bear, has been a hit in Britain. It is a much more mainstream movie than two others starring Kidman that had disappointing releases this year: the Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco and the mystery thriller Before I Go to Sleep.

"I've had huge hits and then I've had things that are obviously very, very unusual and really hard to promote at times because they're small, and the industry isn't built for really, really small films any more," she said. "It's very, very hard to get noticed. It's very, very hard to have material not be judged and disappear really, really quickly.

"Something like this obviously is a whole different ball game. But it's something that I wanted to do because, one, the message and, two, I hadn't made a film for my kids in years. And I love the bear. I've loved the bear since I was a kid."

Kidman wants to keep making bold choices as she continues grieving over her father's sudden death in September.

"I'm thinking, 'I'm working a lot right now. Why am I doing that?' I think it's because I'm raw. When you're in a place of being raw ... I start to dig. 

"I try to dig around and make sense of the different emotions I'm feeling and the chaos that I feel."