Film review: ‘PADDINGTON IN PERU’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

With their typically British combination of warmth, wit and mischievousness, the Paddington movies – featuring the eponymous bear in CGI form – have proven box office and critical favourites. The latest instalment, Paddington in Peru, which once again mixes sweetness, gleeful silliness and surreal invention, should continue to delight fans of the series. Not only is this a film for families it’s about family as Paddington explores his roots in his native Peru.  At the same time, his adoptive human mother Mary (Emily Mortimer replacing Sally Hawkins) tries to deal with her children growing up and daughter Judy (Madeline Harris) preparing to leave for university.

Here, Paddington (once again voiced by Ben Wishaw), while not quite undergoing an existential crisis, is beginning to ponder his place in the world.  Suddenly, from his homeland of Peru comes a note saying his beloved Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton), who was a resident at a church home for retired bears, has gone missing in the Amazon jungle.  This sparks Paddington and his human family the Browns to embark on an adventure up the Amazon to find Lucy.  Helping them are the maniacally grinning singing nun (Olivia Colman) and a suave riverboat captain (Antonio Banderas).  Paddington discovers, however, that there might be other motives behind him being lured to Peru.

A big part of this charming film’s appeal is its sense of balance.  It has some manic sight gags but never becomes too frenzied or grating.  Also, it manages to seamlessly blend the child and adult friendly parts.  Some Hollywood films jarringly slap together the cute stuff for the kids, the riské humour and adult references but here it’s cleverly integrated into a consistent style.   Cinephiles will, however, appreciate a few sly references to the films of Werner Herzog like Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, Wrath of God.  There are also allusions to the fate of refugees but the film is more about innocent fun and family values than more vexing political topics.

Ben Wishaw once again does terrific voice work making Paddington as endearing and innocently destructive as ever. Olivia Colman provides some laugh out loud moments as the slightly crazed singing nun, a role she seemed born to play.  Hugh Bonneville as the neurotic, risk-averse Mr Brown also has some of the funniest moments.  All the cast, including Antonio Banderas and Rachel Zegler as his daughter, have enough screen time to make at least some impression.

The film bounces along with a perky energy and although there are a couple of slow parts where characters explain origin stories and the mythology behind the adventure, it never drags excessively.

As this is the third film in the franchise, a certain familiarity has set in so Paddington in Peru doesn’t have quite the same impact as the first two films but it’s still a clever, heartwarming and even moving film.

Nick’s rating: ***1/2

Genre: Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ Animation.

Classification: PG.

Director(s): Dougal Wilson.

Release date: 1st Jan 2025.

Running time: 106 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

Related Posts:

tagged with , , , , , ,