While it is to be praised that so many dads are making movies for children these days, it does rather mean the dads are centering themselves in the movies, instead of the children for whom the movies are supposedly made. This is very frustrating, not least when it’s clear that the characters with the most emotional importance are the mothers, who are therefore sidelined in their own story. The Paddington movies – which over the last decade have become a metaphor for Brexit in the United Kingdom, and more on this later – are about an immigrant bear learning to adapt to life in a glossy, multicultural London instead of in his own country of Peru. This is in spite of the fact that in the first movie the character with whom we’re meant to identify, a small bear mad for marmalade sandwiches (voiced by Ben Whishaw), is hunted for sport by Nicole Kidman. In the largely beloved Paddington 2, Paddington is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit on the word of Hugh Grant. And now we have the third installment, Paddington in Peru, which is by far the weakest of the lot, both in style and in substance.
Paddington now has a British passport and since he can travel freely again has decided to go visit his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) at her retirement home in Peru. The Brown family has begun to splinter as Judy (Madeleine Harris) is shortly off to university and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) barely leaves his room. Father Henry (Hugh Bonneville) is coming under pressure to be more daring in his insurance career – which is genuinely a funny concept, though maybe not for the kids – while mother Mary (Emily Mortimer, taking over from Sally Hawkins in the part, whose absence has not been addressed in any way) is depressed at the looming empty nest. A chance for a family holiday, also obviously including housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters), is therefore leapt at. On arrival the family learns from the Reverend Mother in charge of the care home (Olivia Colman, channelling both Julie Andrews and Sally Field in her performance) that Aunt Lucy has disappeared into the jungle. Obviously a boat must be hired to go upriver to find her, and obviously the one owned by Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) and his fetching daughter Gina (Carla Tous) must be chosen. And then the chase suitable for even the smallest children is on, with only a few references to the work of Werner Herzog.
The problem with all of this is that screenwriters Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont and director Dougal King have decided to give the hero’s journey to the villain. This might be interesting to the mothers in the audience, but less so to the kids at whom Paddington’s adventures are aimed. The humour in the first two movies was largely dependent on little kids enjoying seeing someone older than them, even a bear who doesn’t know the rules of behaviour in the UK, misbehave just as badly as they do. When our sympathies are meant to reside with the baddies, the story loses its power as well as our interest. The action clips along at a proper pace, the actors visibly have a great time in the ridiculous and not really scary action pieces, and once again a pipe organ is a key plot device, but it’s hard to be emotionally invested when the two international stars are the focus instead of Paddington.
On the other hand, it’s nice to see a series of family movies focus on a family as it grows and changes, and the use of Peruvian quipu as a plot point is a very clever touch. The trouble is that the revelation the quipu leads to is so grim and depressing that it doesn’t bear thinking about too hard, and means that the big decision at the end is not nearly as uplifting as it ought to have been. This is very hard to (and forgive the pun) bear, especially in the context of these movies being about how welcoming the nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland prides itself on being. The first movie was made in a pre-Brexit world, when the dream of an open-minded and fair UK was more of a reality. Since 2016, when British borders have become much more difficult to cross and the environment for people (including this critic) who have made their homes in London is noticeably worse than it used to be, well. When the judgmental anxiety of Mr. Brown is given more import than the relaxed open-heartedness of Mrs. Brown, it’s hard not to feel that what was a funny piece of characterisation in 2014 is now state-of-the-nation commentary in 2024. It’s a lot for a kids’ movie to carry, but to pull it off Paddington in Peru needed a bigger brain as well as a bigger heart.
Paddington in Peru will be in US theaters on February 14, 2025.
Learn more about the film, including how to buy tickets, at the official website.
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