Paddington in Peru (2024) - Threequel takes furry hero on an enjoyable, if slightly muddled adventure
Credit: allocine.fr
Hold onto your red-stained bucket hats – everyone’s favourite British bear is back on the big screen. The third in the franchise, Paddington in Peru is perhaps the weakest of the lot (then again, it would have been a feat and a half to even begin to measure up to the masterpiece that is Paddington 2), but nevertheless just about keeps itself together, no doubt thanks to its feisty regulars – as well as a fresh face or two – who unanimously sing the chorus of its status as national treasure.
After receiving a letter from the Reverend Mother (a delightful Olivia Coleman) from the Home for Retired Bears expressing her concern about Aunt Lucy, who has been acting strangely, Paddington (voiced once again by Ben Whishaw) resolves to travel to her immediately. This could not be better timing for the Browns – Mrs Brown (Emily Mortimer) is eager to get some family time in before Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) and Judy (Madeleine Harris) ‘fly the nest’, and Mr Brown (Hugh Bonneville on top form) has been encouraged by his new American boss (Hayley Atwell) to ‘embrace the risk’ rather than fear it. Plus, Paddington has just received his British passport – so it all works out well. However in Peru, the family are greeted by Reverend Mother, who tells them that Aunt Lucy has now gone missing. Thus begins a swashbuckling adventure through the Amazonian jungle searching for her – and El Dorado by extension – with help no less from Antonio Banderas (who plays hungry-for-gold Hunter Cabot) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous).
Grossly speaking, there are few things wrong with this third instalment. The gags are upheld, with Bonneville’s ongoing midlife crisis as usual leading the way. Sally Hawkins’ absence is somewhat felt, but Mortimer does an excellent job of it, playing separation anxiety with bravado as Jonathan and Judy move on with their lives. Coleman can do no wrong – as is often the case – as Reverend Mother, even going so far as to trill the film’s signature song, Let’s Prepare for Paddington. They’ve even updated D Lime’s calypso songs, which featured in the first two films, to a Peruvian theme. All in all, it’s great fun, for children, adults, and everything in between.
Transporting Paddington and co back to ‘darkest Peru’, even, was not necessarily a mistake per se: another story in London could have easily been redundant, especially with a fresh pair of eyes – for this, Paul King has stepped down as director and handed over the reins to first time feature director Dougal Wilson (quite appropriately, the mind behind many of the much-loved John Lewis adverts, which have the same fuzzy feeling as this trilogy). Nevertheless, a different setting means that it does inevitably lose a certain London flair, the one that makes Paddington so familiar and comforting to watch. This script is also not as tight as its predecessors, with storylines flailing a little all over the place – at times, there are three separate ones to follow, and moreover some that are completely unnecessary, namely Banderas’ entire character. Try removing him from the plot altogether, and you’ll find very little changes, though his performance is, unsurprisingly, agile.
The main issue may simply be that too many new characters play too large an importance, leaving familiar favourites such as Mrs Bird (Julie Walters) very little to work with. For this reason, the core of the film inevitably loses screen time, with Jonathan and Judy feeling oddly empty, and fresh faces such as Gina being given next to no opportunity to even develop a personality in the first place.
The beauty of Paddington was always that the characters were happily transparent. It was what made them funny – Mr Brown working in insurance meant that having to take risks for Paddington’s tumultuous lifestyle necessarily engendered discomfort and, hence, hilarity. But it was also what made them lovable and real – be it Mrs Brown’s innate kindness or Paddington’s prison friends deciding to give up on their escape to aid their furry friend in the second instalment. Everything comes full circle, tied neatly with a bow. It is why Paddington in Peru feels a little out of sorts, especially in regard to Paddington’s identity, a moral that feels oddly out of place at the film’s denouement. It is here that his feelings of multinationalism could have benefited from a little more nuance – he may be ‘just a bear’, but he is also the pillar of a successful franchise, and one that will doubtlessly continue to pave the way in the world of comforting cinema. He deserves to be treated as such.