UK/France/Japan. 2024.
Crew
Director – Dougal Wilson, Screenplay – Mark Burton, Jon Foster & James Lamont, Screen Story – Mark Burton, Simon Farnaby & Paul King, Producer – Rosie Alison, Photography – Erik A. Wilson, Music – Dario Marianelli, Visual Effects Supervisor – Alexis Wajsbrot, Animation Director – Pablo Grillo, Visual Effects – Blind Ltd, Framestore (Supervisors – Mark Curtis & Sylvain Degrotte) & Tipo VFX (Supervisor – Matt Tinsley), Special Effects Supervisor – Mark Holt, Makeup & Prosthetics Design – Sian Miller, Production Design – Andy Kelly. Production Company – Marmalade Pictures/Canal+/Kinoshita Group.
Cast
Hugh Bonneville (Henry Brown), Emily Mortimer (Mary Brown), Samuel Joslin (Jonathan Brown), Madeline Harris (Judy Brown), Julie Walters (Mrs Bird), Antonio Banderas (Hunter Cabot), Olivia Colman (Reverend Mother), Carla Tous (Gina Cabot), Jim Broadbent (Mr Gruber), Hugh Grant (Phoenix Buchanan), Hayley Atwell (Madison)
Voices
Ben Whishaw (Paddington), Imelda Staunton (Aunt Lucy)
Plot
Paddington receives a letter from the reverend mother who runs the Home for Retired Bears in Peru to inform him that his Aunt Lucy misses him. Paddington has just received his passport and decides this would be the perfect time to go to Peru and visit her. He and the Browns arrive in Peru only to be informed by the reverend mother that Aunt Lucy has gone missing. Paddington finds a map that indicates she has gone in search of Rumi Rock. To set out to find her, they charter the riverboat of Captain Hunter Cabot. However, Cabot and others are seeking the clues in an Incan quipu that Paddington has that lead the way to El Dorado, the legendary city of gold.
This was the third of the Paddington films, following Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017), adapted from the popular series of children’s books by Michael Bond. For reasons I have not been able to fully ascertain, the Paddington films seem to have charms that win adults over just as much as the children’s audience. Paddington 2, for instance, ended up on some critics’ Top 10 of 2017 lists – while I found it likeable, that seemed excessive.
Paddington in Peru reunites most of the same cast as before – Hugh Bonneville, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin and Julie Walters, along with Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton as the voices of Paddington and Aunt Lucy. Sometimes it feels as though things are getting stretched trying to get everybody in – like having to take the maid Mrs Bird to Peru with them; a one scene reappearance from Jim Broadbent; or even Sanjeev Bhaskar, Robbie Gee and Ben Miller all lined up outside the Brown house to present Paddington with his passport. There is however an amusing reappearance from Hugh Grant during the end credits. Outside of these, even the tiniest role is packed with cameos from British Acting Equity – Hayley Atwell as the new American CEO of the insurance company; co-writer Simon Farnaby as a flight attendant; Joel Fry as the postman; and Jessica Hynes there for no real reason.
The most noticeable difference is that Sally Hawkins having been replaced by Emily Mortimer as Mary. The one other person absent is Paul King, the director of the other two films, who steps back to an executive producing position and is credited for the screen story, while the directing chores are inherited by British music video director Dougal Wilson who makes his feature film debut.
Paddington in Peru doesn’t mess too much with the formula of the other films. Everything comes with a feelgood simplicity that is so hyper-exaggerated that you are not meant to be taking it seriously. There are a lot of gags where things play out with literalistic effect – Paddington announces he is off to find “Aunt Lucy’s Place” whereupon we see him pass a sign saying ‘Aunt Lucy’s Place’; it is asked why Paddington thinks they should start the search here and he points to the map that says ‘Start Search Here’; the Browns announce “we need a miracle” and surely enough a plane named The Miracle comes flying in.
There are cutely appealing touches – the always watchable Olivia Colman as a singing nun; Antonio Banderas being urged on by imaginary ghost companions of his ancestors. There are all the familiar slapstick sequences – the prologue with Paddington getting mixed up in a photomat booth; a sequence where the riverboat hits the rapids that involves Paddington tangled up in the ship’s wheel cartwheeling along the deck.
What is most noticeable is that the film going on location has affected a certain change in the story. The other two films have been knockabout slapstick comedies based around certain domestic complications and with the addition of larger-than-life cartoonish villains. Paddington in Peru abandons this for more of an Adventure Film feel. This often has the feel of more in common with something like Jungle Cruise (2021) than the other films. The other Paddington films are very likeable, but by the time of Paddington in Peru you feel that the premise is being stretched sufficiently that this slips back to the merely amiable.
(Nominee for Best Special Effects at this site’s Best of 2024 Awards).
Trailer here