After almost a decade, multiple start-stops, and additional, unrelated delays (the 2023 SAG-AFTRA Writer’s Strike), Paddington in Peru, the long-awaited, much-anticipated third entry in the commercially and critically acclaimed live-action franchise makes it to stateside theaters. To suggest Paddington in Peru was – and is – worth the lengthy wait might be an overstatement, especially in comparison to the artistic heights of its predecessors (Paddington and Paddington 2), but that’s less than a knock against the sequel than a reflection of reality.
Paddington in Peru picks up some time after the second entry in the series. Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw), the marmalade-loving, hijinks-prone, ultra-polite bear, has become a full-fledged member of the Brown clan, officially adding “Brown” to his passport application. Once an undocumented immigrant, adoption by the Brown family has settled his status as a British citizen. Still, Paddington needs a passport if he wants to travel abroad, specifically if he wants to visit his aunt, Lucy (Imelda Staunton), long a resident of the Home for Retired Bears in the country, Peru, where Paddington was born, adopted by two elderly bears, and raised for a time before shipping off to a new life in the UK (United Kingdom).
While there’s no longer any doubt about Paddington’s place in the Brown clan (he’s one of their own and vice versa), a letter from Aunt Lucy stirs Paddington’s conscience: She’s lonely and misses her nephew. Keen to assuage her loneliness with a visit, not to mention acquire and use his British passport for the first time, Paddington convinces the Brown clan to join him on his trip back to Peru. It’s apparently what the Browns, facing the inevitable effects of time (i.e., children growing up into young adults and leaving the family home), need to get them back on track as a familial unit, a renewed sense of togetherness, community, etc.
In addition to Paddington and his favorite blue coat and red hat, the Brown clan includes Henry (Hugh Bonneville), the family patriarch, Mary Brown (Emily Mortimer, replacing the much-missed Sally Hawkins), wife, mother, matriarch, and their two children, Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), a slacker with an inventive mind, Judy (Madeleine Harris), a soon-to-be university student, and Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters), the family’s housekeeper extraordinaire.
Finally in Peru, the Browns soon discover that Aunt Lucy disappeared, necessitating a change of plans. Instead of a reunion, the Browns, led by Paddington, have little, if any choice, but to venture into Peru’s jungle terrain. With only a single clue left behind by Aunt Lucy, the Browns obtain the services of Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas), a riverboat captain, and Cabot’s daughter, Gina (Carla Tous), to transport them to Aunt Lucy’s likely destination. Harried by his overly verbose, perpetually present ancestors, Cabot sees Paddington and specifically, a gift left by Aunt Lucy to her nephew as the figurative and literal key to untold riches.
Paddington in Peru wears its anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist narrative lightly, perhaps too lightly, treating Cabot’s relationship with his ancestors, visualized as nagging ghosts who push him to acquisitive extremes, partly out of pride (i.e., family name/reputation), partly to prove their sacrifices somehow justified. Banderas plays every iteration of his ancestors, including a female aviator, with just the right of cheeky, self-aware humor. Still, it’s odd to acknowledge the centuries-long effects of Spanish conquest and rule and treat it as an ongoing joke that gets more stale with each repetition.
That aside, taking Paddington, an anthropomorphic bear, out of his natural element (i.e., London), and bringing him back to Peru has other, not quite fatal consequences: The humor in Paddington’s naïve, kind, generous, generous attitude and befuddled, bewildered, bemused Brits, his propensity for pratfalls and other bits of physical comedy, and the centrality of his relationship with the Browns. Each, in turn, gives way to an overabundance of plot and incident and an underabundance of gags and whimsy.
Buoyed by note-perfect performances, especially Ben Whishaw’s turn as the voice of Paddington, breezily unobtrusive direction by first-timer Dougal Wilson, and its always welcome positive, optimistic message about family, community, and belonging, Paddington in Peru delivers, if not another must-see entry in the series, then the next best thing: a perfectly pleasant, family-oriented experience.
Paddington in Peru opens theatrically in North America on Friday, February 14th.
