Paddington Brown is one of the most lovable screen characters in recent history. A young bear from Peru sent to London by his beloved Aunt Lucy and adopted by a kindly British family, he gets into all sorts of trouble due to his curiosity and lack of knowledge of the human world. He gets out of it thanks to his consistently upbeat attitude and the generosity of those around him. His first two features were highly enjoyable family comedies of manners, with entertaining villains and plots that were resolved by Paddington’s relentless charm. He just tries to do the right thing and eventually overcomes the selfishness of others and succeeds.
The third entry in the franchise, Paddington in Peru, takes him out of civilization and into the jungles he came from in search of his aunt. Unfortunately, it has left behind the innocent goofiness in favor of a more traditional family-friendly action story with low-stakes peril. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I want to see Paddington get into misunderstandings he politely finds his way out of. I am far less interested in seeing him running from falling boulders or steering a boat through dangerous rapids. Paddington isn’t an action hero; he’s a good bear who the universe rewards for being nice to every being he encounters.
Paddington in Peru (99 minutes, plus a post-credit scene) has its pleasures, to be sure. The title character is still a delight, there are a few funny little set pieces and an entertaining supporting turn from the great Olivia Colman. However, it also backgrounds some of the better aspects of the series (such as his relationship with the Browns, who barely factor in to a lot of this) and, by moving Paddington away from the city, eliminates the fun of seeing him interacting with his surroundings. There are a couple amusing bits of business (the opening scene with him getting his passport photo taken and another where he struggles to get into a hammock), but it strays too much from what made these movies stand out in the first place.
Paddington is doing wonderfully in London, now a fully-fledged part of the Brown family and a popular member of his community. When he receives a letter from the Reverend Mother at the Home for Retired Bears saying that Aunt Lucy is feeling lonely, Paddington and the Browns fly to Peru immediately, only to find that Aunt Lucy has wandered into the jungle and disappeared. Now Paddington must set out into the Amazon to bring her back.
Enough about the negatives. The biggest positive is that it remains warm and sweet. Paddington (voiced effectively once again by Ben Whishaw) has not ceased to be super adorable. Though he doesn’t cause as much inadvertent havoc as he did the first two times out, he has his fun moments. The big newcomers here are Olivia Colman as the shifty Reverend Mother and Antonio Banderas as the boat captain leading Paddington and the Browns into the Amazon. Banderas is okay. His personality is mainly defined by his gold madness and thus is pretty limited. The Reverend Mother, on the other hand, is very funny, as Colman leans into the silliness of a nun running a home for retired bears and gets every ounce of entertainment out of it. While she has been great in too many things to list here, it is performances like this that truly prove her talent.
Paddington in Peru is a perfectly fine, inoffensive, family trip to the movies. It mostly gets knocked down because of how good Paddington and Paddington 2 were. It certainly was decent enough for me to hope there are more.
3 out of 5
Cast:
Ben Whishaw as voice of Paddington
Hugh Bonneville as Henry Brown
Emily Mortimer as Mary Brown
Madeleine Harris as Judy Brown
Samuel Joslin as Jonathan Brown
Julie Walters as Mrs. Bird
Olivia Colman as Reverend Mother
Antonio Banderas as Hunter Cabot
Carla Tous as Gina Cabot
Directed by Dougal Wilson
Screenplay by Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont
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