Review: 'Paddington in Peru' Is a Lively Adventure Sans The Magic

(SPOT.ph) Imagine having to conceive a sequel to the best film ever made. If you believe Rotten Tomatoes trivia hounds and smarmy ironists everywhere, that is exactly the predicament that faced the filmmakers of Paddington in Peru, the third entry in a franchise that featured the high point of Paddington 2 (2017), an entry so beloved that it allegedly received more positive reviews than Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Okay, fine, “the best film ever made” might be an overstatement, but how are you supposed to follow an act like that?

Making the odds even more daunting, the director of the first two Paddington films, Paul King, did not return for this third installment (presumably to reap even more success helming Timothée Chalamet’s hit musical prequel Wonka) and neither did his co-writer Simon Farnaby (although King and Farnaby share a “screen story by” credit on this third film). Sally Hawkins has also flown the coop, with Emily Mortimer stepping into her role as Mrs. Brown, the matriarch of the family who adopted Paddington the bear.

Mortimer and Paddington in Peru’s director, Dougal Wilson, are capable artisans. And, in general, where they decide to take the franchise makes conventional sense (our hero traces his roots and goes back to where it all began). But there is a lingering feeling that they are mere substitutes for the real thing, a feeling that permeates Paddington in Peru as a whole: Where Paddington 2 seemed to conjure up its magic so effortlessly, you can see the veins popping up in Paddington in Peru’s neck.

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Paddington's Peruvian adventure 

This time, Paddington (voiced once again with innocent sincerity by Ben Whishaw) receives a letter from the Home of Retired Bears, where his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) is living her twilight years. The letter was sent by the Reverend Mother, whose guitar-strumming wholesomeness is undercut with precise comic timing by Olivia Colman, and it says that Aunt Lucy has been behaving erratically and has now disappeared in pursuit of a fabled treasure. Paddington and the Browns (Mortimer, along with family patriarch Hugh Bonneville, Madeleine Harris as leaving-for-college daughter Judy, Samuel Joslin as lazy inventor son Jonathan, and Julie Walters as scrappy housekeeper Mrs. Bird) fly to Peru, where they hire a riverboat captain named Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas, who gets to gleefully play multiple characters) with ulterior motives of his own.

Is there anything suspicious about the Reverend Mother’s protestations that the authorities shouldn’t get involved? What about that framed portrait of a treasure-hunting conquistador hanging in Cabot’s boat? A joke that runs like a burbling river through Paddington in Peru is that even though we’re on to these new characters’ shenanigans, the Browns aren’t—so caught up are they in empty nester syndromes and career pitfalls that, like bad tourists, they are oblivious to everything going on around them.

A fun excursion in the Andes

And from that central conceit, Paddington in Peru builds its workmanlike charm, throwing its characters into roaring rapids and Machu Picchu-like stone settlements, adding just enough eccentricity and a dash of Britishness to the adventure. But just as Paddington in Peru reaches its climax high in the cloudy peaks of the Andes, it also doesn’t quite reach the lofty bar set by Paddington 2. The mystery feels a little more contrived, the backstories a bit more convoluted. When Olivia Colman struts her stuff in her nun’s habit, I couldn’t help but flash back to Hugh Grant as self-absorbed Phoenix Buchanan doing the same bit in the second film. And while Colman is a formidable comedic actress, I remember guffawing at Grant while I chuckled at her.

The film isn’t quite as resonant either, with dotty neighbor Mr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent) fleetingly touching on the “mixed feelings” of being an immigrant while giving our good little bear a primer about being a Brit abroad. But Paddington in Peru doesn’t bother to make a full-throated case for treating immigrants with compassion the way Paddington 2 did for decency and inclusivity. Instead, it’s too preoccupied with putting our protagonists in hairy situations with little jeopardy to give any deeper themes a thought.

Then again, maybe Paddington 2 spoiled the rest of the franchise for me. Whatever its shortcomings may be, Paddington in Peru still gives you a lively 96 minutes of family entertainment—but it feels like it’s coming in for a landing after reaching delirious heights of fancy. And now there’s news of more sequels and a TV series on the way; Paddington’s creators better add extra zing to those marmalade sandwiches before they go completely stale.

Paddington in Peru opens in Philippine cinemas on Wednesday, January 29.