Compared to its predecessor, 2017’s widely acclaimed Paddington 2, Paddington in Peru will feel to most a bit more like standard kiddie fare. Paddington 2 remains one of the most wondrous and emotionally astute children’s movies of the last 20 years, so odds were that whatever came next was always likely to exist firmly in its shadow. So while Paddington in Peru thankfully proves to be a perfectly charming film in its own right, it is indeed a marked step down from the two films, both directed by Paul King, that came before.
This time out, the world’s most polite bear (Ben Whishaw) heads back home to Peru in search of his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton), who has gone missing somewhere in the Amazon rainforest. With a somewhat unhinged riverboat captain (Antonio Banderas) as their guide, Paddington and family head off into the jungles of darkest Peru on an unwitting quest not only to find Aunt Lucy, but also the lost city of El Dorado. Why not!
Part of the charm of the Paddington films has always been how the lovable bear’s inherent kindness affects those he meets and how his sometimes hapless attempts to fit in and be British sometimes end in comical disaster. But Paddington in Peru doesn’t really afford its title character much time for such things, and while he remains as charmingly clumsy as ever, the story’s more isolated setting/narrative doesn’t afford him the opportunity to touch many lives along the way. Olivia Colman is an unbridled delight here as a particularly suspicious nun, but by and large this latest film is more concerned with high adventure and Paddington’s ultimate quest to find where he belongs. And while he does eventually find where he came from, the film’s resolution doesn’t amount to anything more than the realization that, of course, he’s been home all along.
Interestingly and somewhat surprisingly, Paddington in Peru boasts a plot that resembles Kung Fu Panda 3, which also found its hero bear discovering where he came from, only to ultimately choose to stay with the found family he’s come to know and love. Of course, this is executed with an emphasis on Paddington’s signature British manners, which always make for some cute moments, but the project fails to ever substantially realize the colorfully whimsical spark that made the first two films so magical. Still, fans will no doubt enjoy spending another two hours in the company of this lovable bear and his family, while parents will likely be relieved to see a family film that is mercifully light on obnoxious (and instantly dated) pop culture references, even if this latest adventure doesn’t fails to reach the heights viewers have come to expect.
DIRECTOR: Dougal Wilson; CAST: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters; DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures; IN THEATERS: February 14; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 46 min.
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