Did we need another Paddington movie? The absolute joy and near-if-not-actual-perfection of the second movie, to the point where it was actually something of a joke in Nicholas Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent suggests that trying to do a follow-up to Paddington 2 is probably about as smart as making a sequel to Toy Story 3. Granted, there is a Toy Story 4, but it wasn’t all bad. It was just nowhere near as good as the previous movie.
As it is, I’ve been somewhat stressed of late for reasons I will not go into, so I could use the sort of gentle kindness that Paddington Bear best represents.
It’s a big day for Paddington (voice of Ben Whishaw): he’s gets a British passport, and that means it’s time to write to his Aunt Lucy (voice of Imelda Staunton). Sadly, things are somewhat rocky with the rest of the Browns as the family is growing up and going off in their own directions. Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville) needs to take more risks to impress his new American boss at his insurance company, Mrs. Brown (Emily Mortimer, replacing Sally Hawkins) is starting to miss the family’s together time, and housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) is working on various to-do lists as she seems to have more free time. And yes, Judy and Jonathan (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin, respectively) have things to do, but nothing all that interesting. However, when the Mother Superior for the Home for Retired Bears in Peru (Olivia Colman) writes that Aunt Lucy is in something of a funk and could use a visit.
The family obliges, in part so Mr. Brown can take a risk, but upon arrival in Peru, they discover Aunt Lucy disappeared into the Amazon rain forest, heading towards Rumi Rock. Leaving Mrs. Bird with the somewhat odd nun, the family hires boat captain Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous) to guide the family to Rumi Rock. Unfortunately, Hunter is descended from a long line of gold hunters (all played by Banderas) who are all obsessed with finding the lost gold in the city of El Dorado, and Paddington may unknowingly have the key to finding the place. Something could go very wrong. All Paddington wants to do is find Aunt Lucy. Will he?
OK, bottom line: this was not a necessary sequel. It’s not on par with the previous two Paddington movies. It tries. It just doesn’t quite get there. However, like Toy Story 4, it doesn’t feel like a needed thing. I couldn’t point to any one thing about the movie that makes it lesser than the previous movies. It just has this feel like it’s trying to be more of a standard kid movie sequel by taking the characters to some exotic location that never seemed to be something that the movies needed before. True, this is just Paddington returning to his home turf, but after a number of rather gentle adventures in and around London, it does seem a little odd to have the character dodging a boat captain around Incan ruins.
However, the character does still have his charms. Paddington may be a bear, but he wins out through being kind and unfailingly polite. His best offensive skill is a hard stare that he uses maybe once or twice a movie, and mostly to make people feel uncomfortable. But his overall kindness is contagious, both in the movie and off-screen. It’s not really hard to see why a character like Paddington might be needed in cruel or stressful times, and there’s nothing at all wrong with entertaining kids with a character that doesn’t make (most) of his humor work through bathroom humor or gross slapstick. Paddington in Peru won’t reach the heights of the other two movies, but it’s hard to say that the bear is completely without his charms.
Grade: B-
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