Paddington in Peru review: The beloved bear’s third instalment loses itself in the Jungle
Paddington keeps its sweetness, but loses its spark as the Browns venture into darkest Peru.
Back in 2014, Paddington far exceeded my expectations, which were, admittedly, low going in. The sequel was even better, thanks to its easy charm and Hugh Grant’s brilliant antagonist (which launched his unexpected, and very welcome, villain era). This third cinematic outing for Michael Bond’s famous bear, the first directed by Dougal Wilson, falls below of the standard set by its predecessors. It’s a perfectly watchable children’s film - Paddington’s voice (Ben Wishaw) and innocent optimism are as soothing as ever, but Paddington in Peru cannot replicate the witty charm that characterised writer-director Paul King’s original two films.
As the title suggests, Paddington in Peru sees Paddington stuff a marmalade sandwich under his hat and travel back to his homeland. Having recently become the proud owner of a British passport following a brief mishap in an automated photo booth, Paddington receives a letter telling him that his Aunt Lucy is in trouble. He has no problem persuading the Browns to make it a family holiday - Mrs. Brown (Emily Mortimer) is craving time with her children before they fly the nest, and the obsessively cautious Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville) sees it as an opportunity to impress his new, risk-loving American boss. Upon arriving in Peru, the singing Reverend Mother (Olivia Coleman) in charge of the Home for Retired Bears tells the Browns that Aunt Lucy is missing. So, enlisting the help of a flamboyant river-boat captain in Fitzcarraldo cosplay (Antonio Banderas), the Browns set off in search of Aunt Lucy, who just so happens to have disappeared at the rumoured entrance to the mythical, gold-laden city of El Dorado.
The decision to take Paddington away from London is a risk that doesn’t pay off.
At the heart of Paddington and Paddington 2 was the way in which Paddington interacted with his new surroundings in an idyllic London, full of uplifting street music and pastel coloured houses. The warm humour stemmed from the young bear’s unfamiliarity with every-day situations, flooding the house after having “a spot of bother with the facilities”, or accidentally dying an entire prison’s uniforms pink while on laundry duty. Equally, the heartwarming undertone of the film was built on Paddington’s interaction with Londoners, showcasing his naively optimistic tendency to think the best of everyone, even when surrounded by an angry mob of hardened criminals.
This familiar Paddington feeling is difficult to maintain when the dynamic is flipped on its head, and it’s the Brown family adjusting to their new surroundings of the inhospitable Peruvian Amazon. This shift in focus, combined with the emptiness of the vast jungle, means that we see less of Paddington talking to strangers, and the film instead bases most of its humour around Mr Brown’s new found adrenaline addiction. There are certainly some funny moments - Mr Brown employing his ‘hard walk’, the one he uses when the plumber comes round, to walk through the South American streets was a particular favourite. But for each joke that lands, another misses the mark.
Paddington in Peru also has a frustrating tendency to over-explain key plot points. Instead of adhering to the traditional ‘show not tell’ principles of visual storytelling, it goes for a ‘show, then tell, then tell again just in case’ approach. For example, when a characters is shown to be acting shifty, there is then a conversation in which it is confirmed to us, at length, that the character’s behaviour was, indeed, suspicious. And this happens twice. As a children’s film, a bit more exposition is to be expected, but even a sleepy seven year old doesn’t need the film to repeat these details like a maths teacher drilling their times tables.
The best scene comes a couple of minutes after the credits start to roll. Set back in England, it’s a throwback to the larger-than-life characters and silly, London-centric humour of the first two films. It’s a reminder of what made those films so enjoyable, and what’s missing from this latest outing. Paddington in Peru is by no means a bad film, it just falls disappointingly short of what it might have been.