'Paddington in Peru' Review: Paddington's Threequel is a Charming Adventure, but Lacks That Paul King Touch
Nobody expected Paddington 2 to be a cultural landmark in family film when it dropped in 2018. Not you, nor me, nor the first two installments' director Paul King. I was worried when it was announced that the threequel, Paddington in Peru, would bring back the famous bear from Britain without King and without Sally Hawkins, the original Mrs. Brown. They both left that bear in favor of that Chalamet chocolate affair, Wonka. Thankfully, Britain’s politest bear, and perhaps its finest cinematic export (sorry, Bridget Jones), is back when it feels like the world needs him most. In his latest feature, Paddington in Peru, he is as perfect and polite as ever, even though the story surrounding him is in desperate need of that Paul King magic.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of SONY
MPA Rating: PG (Action, mild rude humor and some thematic elements.)
Runtime: 1 Hour and 46 Minutes
Production Companies: StudioCanal, Columbia Pictures, Stage 6 Films, Kinoshita Group, Marmalade Pictures
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Dougal Wilson
Writers: Mark Burton, Jon Foster, James Lamont
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Carla Tous, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Ben Whishaw
Release Date: February 14, 2025
Years after the events of Paddington 2, Paddington receives his first passport. One day, a letter from Aunt Lucy's (Imelda Staunton) Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman) at the Home for Retired Bears informs him that Lucy has been acting strangely. He and his adoptive family, the Browns, drop everything to visit Aunt Lucy in Peru. At the Home for Retired Bears, Reverend Mother reveals Aunt Lucy has gone missing in the Peruvian Amazon and Paddington and the Browns embark on a search and rescue mission. They hire explorers Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous) as guides through the rainforest. Unbeknownst to them, Hunter is on a mission to uncover the lost city of El Dorado, and Paddington holds the key to unlocking its golden gates.
Paddington in Peru plays its greatest hits, but with limited effect
Long-time music-video-director-turned-filmmaker Dougal Wilson approaches Paddington in Peru like a greatest hits album: aping the imaginative storybook style that King injected into the predecessors with no room for newness. It's as if when King left the Brown residence, he left a rubric for others to follow, and to his credit, Wilson did some decent cosplaying. Even if that marmalade doesn't bear that same freshness as before, its taste is still richer than every other live-action family movie of recent memory, like Harold and the Purple Crayon or Mufasa: The Lion King. Some solid filmmaking is at hand but with an added adventurous scope. Tonally it feels akin to 80s-style family adventure films, which at many times feels out of step with Paddington himself.
The writing team, consisting of Aardman veteran Mark Burton and The Adventures of Paddington (the Nick Jr. spinoff) writers Jon Foster and James Lamont, is also playing a game of retread all around. They retain Paddington’s concise integrity, charm, and yes, politeness, along with delightful British humor, but the storytelling falters.
Justice For the Brown Family
The Brown family is less involved in Paddington in Peru. Mrs. Brown (Emily Mortimer, taking over from Hawkins) feels distant from her children Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin). Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonnevale) is advised to lead a risky lifestyle by his American boss (known Brit, Hayley Atwell) so he can perform better at work. Both parents’ struggles have come up before and are given minimal development, especially in the second act, where the family is snubbed and Banderas and Colman's characters hog the spotlight. Every time the family appears on-screen, they are treated as a collective rather than individuals, except when individual idiosyncrasies are convenient to the plot. The Browns are treated as tertiary characters, when their "found family" relationship with Paddington is the emotional core that holds the franchise together. The way the writers snubbed the Brown Family is enough for me to give them one of Paddington's signature hard stares.
Given that this installment's intent is to explore Paddington's Peruvian background, it is frustrating to realize that the writers aren't clear on how to create this conflict stemming from his definition of home because they're so concerned with making a straightforward adventure flick. The film takes so many different narrative missteps that it undercuts the big emotional swing that awaits in the third act, which hinges on Paddington's relationship with his identity.
Paddington's Biggest Adventure is a Middling Affair
When you take the bear out of Britain and thrust him into a terrain-trotting adventure, the simplicity that makes the Paddington films so rich is lost. You do not necessarily lose sight of the character, for he is still Paddington, and Ben Whishaw's voice performance is sublime and gentle as usual. But the essence has changed. Paddington is no stranger to adventures, yet a significant aspect of these films' appeal lies in discovering how our little bear would realistically act in unexpected situations, such as being incarcerated. While he's in Peru, the film doesn't see Paddington as a participant in his own adventure. There's a chunk of the story where he's paired with Antonio Banderas' comically villainous yet humanized Hunter, who certainly is a fun welcome distraction and has a great running joke about his character’s generational obsession with gold. That said, he is actively steering the adventure component of the plot, and Paddington is positioned like Beavis and Butthead in Do America. He's oblivious to the plot set against him because of his straightforward mission to find Aunt Lucy. It's a funny element at first but is dragged for far too long, and feels moderately insulting to Paddington's character.
Then you have another prominent supporting player in Olivia Colman’s Reverend Mother, who, I fear, is becoming pigeonholed for certain roles these days. I doubt she would last a round in Among Us the way she is in every project looking "sus" on arrival. They do give her the best joke in the film with a guitar-strumming ditty that plays over a montage in a nice reference to The Sound of Music. However, the writers make her character too contrived, and "contrived" is not a word I ever want to use when discussing a Paddington movie.
Final Thoughts
Even though any Paddington movie is a cut above the rest of the family fare, Paddington in Peru falls far short of the awe-inspiring heights of its predecessors. Despite its trademark wit and charm, its convoluted storytelling and misguided adventure angle make for a rather disappointing outing from one of the finest bears in film. Paul King, please come home. Your son needs you.
