Alex Wheeler Movie Ops

After two exemplary films, Paddington has become a fiercely defended film star. The Peruvian bear is pure comfort, never too hectic or harsh while cracking jokes at a rate most comedies only dream of. The rare combo is achieved through an ambitious ethos. The films posit that comedy can be inclusive, that whimsy can still hold a child’s attention, and that movies can truly entertain the whole family. Paddington exists to give anyone who doubts the value of a gentle life a hard stare.

So it was with much trepidation that fans approached Paddington in Peru, the third entry in the live-action animated series. Not only could another entry fall short of its predecessors, but it seemed primed for a slide as writer/director Paul King moved on from the franchise. He was widely credited for making the Paddington films everything we know and love. Could anyone else capture such magic? No, not precisely, of course. But director Dougal Wilson and his team don’t fail the bear or his fans.

In another change-up, Paddington in Peru sees the expat bear and his found family, The Browns, leave cheery old England. They go to, you guessed it, Peru, where Paddington’s Aunt Lucy has gone missing. She’s disappeared into the jungle, a place that’s far too dangerous for an old bear like her. So off they go into the wild, where none of these gentle folks belong.

The setup allows for more fish out of water jokes, which have littered the series as Paddington learned about life in England. He doesn’t know his home well, either, and the Browns are entirely in over their head. Much of this is done through visual gags, trusting the audience to follow silent setups and punchlines. These are smaller in scale than previous entries, a surprise given that their environment has widened considerably, but this appears to be a symptom of the changing guard. We had been spoiled by the grand visions King brought to Paddington. The new director and writers still deliver lots of fun, but none of it truly takes you by surprise.

The actors throw themselves into their work with glee, delivering just the right amount of physical exaggeration for their broad characters. Most of them know the drill from the previous films. Hugh Bonneville is back as the cautious patriarch along with Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin as the now-teenage children. The only change to the main cast is Emily Mortimer replacing Sally Hawkins as the family matriarch, but she picks everything up without a hitch.

Also returning is Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington. He is, perhaps, the only actor that can’t be replaced, as the tenor of his voice lends such firm vulnerability to Paddington that it characterizes the series’ main message.

That message is what Wilson and team carry on best from King: that our world is better when we’re gentle and kind, and those who are brave enough to offer such comfort should be fiercely defended. That’s why the Paddington films, for all their ease, are never boring. Paddington, the Browns, and all their friends exist in our world, complete with bad people and harrowing events. They simply refuse to give into it, dispatching every threat without giving up their decency. 

This time around, the threat is greed, with newcomer Antonio Banderas guiding them straight into a mad search for El Dorado. There’s also Olivia Colman’s suspiciously meddling nun to contend with (that a big-name addition to the series is a bad guy isn’t a spoiler given the series’ track record). The aplomb that both deliver doesn’t quite rise to Hugh Grant’s devilishly delicious turn in Paddington 2, but you’ll enjoy every moment of Colman’s big musical number and Banderas arguing with himself.

Paddington and company, though, have no interest in such a banal search. Gold is not as important to them as Aunt Lucy, so when the jungle closes in and danger appears, they keep level heads and find their way through. They ignore the antics of Banderas and Colman for as long as they can, and when they have no choice but to contend with them, they face them bravely.

To stay the course as chaos erupts around you is lesson all of us need, adults and children alike, given the current state of our world. To make that medicine go down, kids are given slapstick humor and extremely large spiders to squeal at in horror. The adults, meanwhile, get an abundance of film references and winking jokes that are integrated seamlessly into the fun. The film truly is for everyone, not some bifurcated effort that is primarily for kids with crumbs for the adults being dragged along. Come one and come all to Paddington, even if Peru is a lesser entry in the series, because it’s still far more enjoyable than most films.

Release: Available now in theaters
Director: Dougal Wilson
Writers: Mark Burton, Jon Foster, James Lamont
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Carla Tous, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Ben Whishaw