Kindness Reigns in the Selflessly Subtle Paddington in Peru
The Paddington movies are a cathartic jolt of kindness that the world could use more of right now. With that being so, the third entry in the series, Paddington in Peru, could not come at a better time. While it does not rise to the instant-classic heights of Paddington 2, this latest installment is still a good-natured bear hug of joy. More to the point, like a freshly toasted orange marmalade sandwich made with unfettered love and affection, this family-friendly dish satiates a hungry soul like few other cinematic confectionary treats ever could.
After learning that Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) has gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears, Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) and the entire Brown family — Henry (Hugh Bonneville), Mary (Emily Mortimer), Judy (Madeleine Harris), Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), and Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) — drop everything and rush to Peru to find her. There they are met by the home’s Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman), who in turn points them in the direction she believes Aunt Lucy last went, an unexplored corner of the rainforest in search of a fabled lost city.
Paddington and the Browns hire the intrepid Amazonian riverboat captain Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) and his teenage daughter Gina (Carla Tous) to guide them on their adventure into the unknown. However, Captain Cabot has long battled an ancient family curse that has led him precariously close to death far too many times to count, and while he thought his days of selfish adventuring were behind him, this trip will put him to the ultimate test.
Each Paddington film has its fanciful notions, almost as if they were channeling not just author Michael Bond’s beloved source material but also the more outlandishly fanciful, chaotic merriments of a Wallace & Gromit endeavor. But this third outing for the determined bear and his human family is far more reliant on action-heavy set pieces than the previous two. As impressively staged as they may be, there are still so many (on land, sea, and in the air) that they grew oddly stale as events progressed.
Thankfully, new director Dougal Wilson confidently picks up the reins from series originator Paul King (still a producer and has a hand in the writing). Better yet, he remembers it is the interactions and relationships between the characters — and not only the ones between Paddington and the Browns — that make these features so special. Though some scenes are silly and quirky (Colman even gets her own Sound of Music sojourn on a Peruvian mountainside, so sublime that I almost burst my appendix from laughing), it is the quieter moments where the magic happens, and that’s as it should be.
Admittedly, there is something unsettling about watching a drama that’s intently focused on the power of found families, the inherent positives of immigration, and treating everyone with respect — no matter who they are or what their background — in this current social and political climate. But is also glorious. More than that, it is necessary. These are universal life lessons everyone everywhere needs to be reminded of. That they’re delivered with such subtle yet still so endearingly straightforward candor makes them all the more impactful. Like Nicole Kidman (Paddington) and Hugh Grant (Paddington 2) before them, Colman and Banderas shimmer like sunlight on a juicy, ripe orange aching to be plucked from a healthy branch. The former has a twinkle in her eye that kept me wondering if the Reverend Mother was everything she appeared to be, her Cheshire grin making for a beguiling wonder. As for the latter, he gets to prance, dance, jump, and run in multiple roles with agile abandon, and it seemed relatively clear that Banderas was having the time of his life.
Yet the heart and soul of this ongoing saga remains the dynamic between Paddington and the Browns, specifically, Mary — or “Mrs. Brown,” as the pint-sized bear respectfully calls her. While it did take me a beat or two to get over the casting change from Sally Hawkins (from the previous pictures) to Emily Mortimer, the writing is still so sharp and the performances so intuitively natural that this happily didn’t take long. Mortimer slides into the material with ease, and she and Whishaw have immediate chemistry. Multiple scenes between Paddington and Mrs. Brown filled my eyes with euphoric tears.
It’s good to be reminded of what people everywhere can aspire to when they put the needs of others above their own. Love is a universal gesture. It isn’t based on someone’s background, social status, bank account, gender, or race. Paddington in Peru knows and celebrates all of this and more, but not in ways that could be construed as didactic. It’s this unembellished emotional simplicity that makes the continued tales of Paddington so wonderful. It is also what makes them essential.
– Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
Film Rating: 3 (out of 4)
