Paddington in Peru opens in UK cinemas on November 8, adopted by US theaters on January 17, 2025.
There’s an odd, enduring pattern amongst British soaps and sitcoms wherein characters are whisked away to an “unique” location for a one-off particular, with examples starting from Africa to Benidorm to Australia. Fulfilling his responsibility as a cornerstone of British tradition, it’s now our beloved marmalade-munching bear’s flip to go out on a caper overseas as a part of Paddington in Peru. But whereas there are many laughs available in far-flung lands, the bear’s newest journey suffers the identical destiny as a lot of these vacation sitcom specials: a beautiful thought, however one which’s by no means fairly as pleasing because the comforts of house.
Paddington’s return to his Peru homeland begins heading in the right direction, each creatively and logically. An try to amass a easy portrait from a photograph sales space to make use of in a brand new British passport shortly spirals into hilarious catastrophe as our light hero makes mistake after mistake. It’s on this sequence that newcomer Dougal Wilson, who takes over director duties from Paul King, demonstrates a transparent understanding of what made King’s two Paddington movies work so properly. It’s a disgrace, then, that Paddington’s hallmark whimsical chaos is so hardly ever replicated elsewhere throughout the runtime. There are sometimes events the place it seems that Wilson has lined up the dominos for a beautiful Rube Goldberg machine-like situation, just for the scene to take a a lot much less humorous path. There’s sadly nothing akin to the manic bathtub sequence from the primary film, and Paddington in Peru actually suffers for its lack of sweet-natured anarchy and slapstick comedy we’ve come to anticipate from the sequence.
It’s a disgrace, too, as a result of the sudden Indiana Jones-like plot is so clearly well-suited to such chaos. Wilson is joined by a recent writing group – Mark Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont – who ship all the Brown household off to Peru in hunt of Paddington’s Aunt Lucy. It’s not lengthy till the entire gang is misplaced within the jungle and compelled to change into not simply explorers, however archaeologists in hunt of the legendary metropolis of El Dorado. There is, thank god, the prerequisite big rolling boulder to take care of, however nothing of the type on the subject of a marmalade-flavoured tackle Temple of Doom’s mine cart journey. The entire journey film angle is an odd one for Paddington to take, however it’s even stranger that Paddington in Peru doesn’t capitalise on the sequence’ earlier bodily comedy strengths after they so clearly match right here.
That’s to not say Paddington in Peru is a foul time, although. While not as joke-dense as its predecessors, it’s nonetheless constantly enjoyable. Ben Wishaw is as good a Paddington as ever, and whereas the script doesn’t permit him to convey something significantly new to the character, that tender supply is all the time a heat vocal hug. The accompanying Brown household really feel considerably sidelined for this journey regardless of their fixed presence, however the movie would definitely miss them in the event that they have been gone – Julie Walters’ Mrs. Bird stays the joyful Scottish spotlight of the troupe, however a thread emphasising the necessity to take extra dangers in life sees Hugh Bonneville’s Mr. Brown get a wholesome handful of the higher gags. The irreplaceable Sally Hawkins is regretfully absent (having run away with King to the land of Wonka), however Emily Mortimer makes a really superb Mrs. Brown with the restricted area she has to make the character her personal.
But, as with Paddington 2, the present really belongs to a cherished British actor letting free. This time it’s the great Olivia Colman, her Reverend Mother dressed head-to-toe in a Catholic behavior and grinning ear-to-ear in each single scene she steals. The script makes sturdy use of Colman’s innate skill to ship manic punchlines with large eyes and a fair wider smile, making certain her maybe-villain, maybe-not character stays an enjoyably daft enigma all the best way to the end line – though there’s undoubtedly a stand-out second in her Sound of Music-channelling musical quantity. Yes, actually.
Sadly Antonio Banderas, who joins Colman because the story’s second mysterious outsider, presents nothing near the identical stage of caprice. Despite a enjoyable conceit that sees him play gold-obsessed boat captain Hunter Cabot and his different ancestors in an echo of Hugh Grant’s many disguises in Paddington 2, Banderas barely makes an influence. He’s simply not huge and foolish sufficient to really feel like a correct match for this bear’s distinct fashion of journey, which is a disgrace contemplating he’s proven the proper of vary over within the Puss in Boots movies.
There are different decisions that don’t work, too. The shift to the jungle makes Paddington in Peru really feel grander in scale, emphasised by the numerous stunning aerial photographs of limitless tree canopies. There’s a way that that is an growth of the Paddington “mythology,” solely exacerbated by “lore” and “origin tales” that this harmless bear needn’t be weighed down by. But within the face of all that, Paddington in Peru does know the place its priorities lie. Its story finally explores very private emotions about what house and belonging really are, and it manages to take action in a way that’s all the time candy however by no means saccharine. It’s not the journey I’d have preferred to see Paddington take in the hunt for such solutions, however I’m pleased to have taken the journey anyway.
