Paddington in Peru

Director: Dougal Wilson
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Antonio Banderas
Distributor: StudioCanal
Runtime: 106 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2025
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan

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Rating notes: Mild themes

This multinational comedy-adventure film continues the escapades of Paddington Bear, who travels to Peru to visit his Aunt Lucy who has disappeared from the Home for Retired Bears.

Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who lived in a Home for Retired Bears. Colman plays a guitar-playing, singing nun who manages Lucy’s retired home, and she is the home’s reverend Mother-In-Charge. Before she disappeared, Lucy was behaving strangely, and gave signs she was in trouble. Alarmed by her situation, Paddington flies off to Peru, with family-in-tow, to find her.

The film is a live-action animated adventure movie (with some musical interludes) that has been written by Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont from a story by Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Mark Burton. It is the third instalment in the Paddington Bear film series. It is the first feature film for director Wilson, who attempts to give Paddington a new look with scenic wonders supplied by Peru.

The film takes Paddington back to his South American homeland in the midst of the Amazonian wilderness to find his aunt. Whishaw again voices Paddington, while Staunton voices Aunt Lucy. Antonio Banderas colourfully plays a roguish riverboat captain, and major actors reprise their roles from previous films, including Broadbent and Bonneville. The extent of the reprisals guarantees excellent continuity with previous Paddington films.

The film strives to maintain the zestful pace of the first two films, and it projects the same degree of comfortable warmth and appeal that were amply illustrated in the 2014 and 2017 Paddington Bear movies. In this movie, the level of adventuring is particularly high. Plot devices such as technical failures of flying aircraft, and surging, menacing waterfalls tend to overtake Paddington Bear as a loveable icon in his own right, but he maintains his likability. Family values of togetherness and belongingness are reinforced throughout, and the fusion of animation with photogenic realism is excellent.

In this film, we learn why Paddington is a marmalade addict, and the film offers an escapist time-out in fast-pace style. It is not as funny as the first two movies; the wit and magic are not quite there, but the film is cleverly directed, and highly-suited to family viewing.