The Plot: Things have been going swimmingly for Paddington bear (Ben Whishaw). He’s now a British citizen and has received his first passport. The Browns (Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimer) are delighted with this. There’s now an important reason to travel: Aunt Lucy has disappeared from a care home run by The Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman). Paddington and the Browns travel all the way to the bear’s birthplace of Peru. They rope in adventurous boat operator Hunter (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous) to assist in the search. As they travel down the Amazon, they’re all whisked away on a great adventure…
The Verdict: Success can be a tricky thing for filmmakers to deal with. When a film based on an established literary property becomes a hit at the box office, the natural reaction is to continue the story and make more films in the series. Give the audience what they want so to speak and there’s nothing overtly wrong with that. It just means that with each film it becomes that little bit more difficult for filmmakers to maintain consistency of tone and ensure that the quality doesn’t dip. For the team behind Paddington In Peru, they had the unenviable task of following up two well-received films and handing over the captain’s hat to new director Dougal Wilson after Paul King stepped down but has stayed on in an executive producer capacity. Sally Hawkins has also been replaced with Emily Mortimer for unspecified reasons, so there has been change afoot.
This is more a case of passing the marmalade sandwich on for a slightly modified recipe and then checking that it still has the same consistency of texture and taste. In that regard, Paddington In Peru is a cosy family film that sits comfortably with its predecessors but does not necessarily eclipse them. King pitched the idea for this film and it’s built on a solid-enough concept of re-discovering Paddington’s Peruvian origins and how it came to be that he lost his tribe. Writers Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont then expand this out to have the Browns engage on a jungle adventure that also takes in the long-lost city of El Dorado and a colourful family history for Hunter, who has been looking for the city for a long time. Added on to that is an overly enthusiastic singing nun who may or may not be there to help. It’s quite a mix of story elements that intersect in colourful fashion, but not always convincingly so.
Colman’s character is a hoot – Maria von Trapp on steroids / too many fizzy jungle drinks. While Colman is delightful, her character seems to have been underwritten for a particular narrative reason so that when the time comes for her to come to the fore, it comes across as a tad forced. More successful is Hunter, with Banderas tapping into his inner Zorro for most of the thrills, laughs and a chance to dress up in various costumes and play multiple relatives a la Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts And Coronets. The Browns themselves are at a crossroads, with the two children now grown up into teenagers moving on with their lives but still believing in the little bear that they share a home with. Paddington himself goes on the most interesting character journey here, still that bit lovingly awkward and clumsy (look fast for a nod to a memorable Buster Keaton stunt) but also realising that home isn’t necessarily the place you were born, but the place you feel most at home in. That’s a thought worth embracing.
Paddington In Peru goes further than the bare necessities to mark out its own territory. Bright, colourful and beautifully shot in Peru and Colombia, the change of location and visual style is refreshing enough to justify its existence as it whizzes by on its grand (in both senses) adventure down the river. It’s quality family entertainment that hits the right emotional beats and has two potentially teasing end credits scenes worth staying for. One more round of marmalade sandwiches perhaps?
Rating: 3 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
In short: Grand adventure
Directed by Dougal Wilson.
Starring Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Olivia Colman, Carla Tous, Antonio Banderas.