Paddington in Peru

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Much like its predecessors, the third chapter in the 'Paddington' series is an all-around solid, family-friendly execution, making for a trilogy that's good fun for (I've said it before, and it bears repeating) those "bad days." These films are genuinely pure comfort food for the senses, and 'Paddington in Peru' is no exception. However, while still quite good, the film is missing one thing that helped make the first two so incredibly warm: half of the heart was Sally Hawkins as the matriarch of the Brown family, Mary.

Here, Mary is recast with Emily Mortimer. While Mortimer is all well and good in the role, and I have nothing against her, there was something about Hawkins that shined through the screen with such a sunny disposition. Mortimer doesn't quite catch it as well, but again, it's not like she's bad or anything. I missed Hawkins, but unfortunately, she passed on the role, offering it up to someone else, stating that she'd done all she could. So, C'est la vie, sometimes that happens, and I can't blame her. But she will be missed by fans.

The rest of the Brown family returns, complete with Patriarch Henry (Hugh Bonneville), his aforementioned wife, Mary, their kids, Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), and their housekeeper, Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters). Henry gets a new job that seems to forego everything he learned as a risk analyst and focus more on taking risks than avoiding them, thus pushing him out of his comfort zone. This push comes into play after Paddington (Ben Whishaw) receives a letter from the Home for Retired Bears.

In said letter, the Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman) informs Paddington that his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) has been acting strangely lately. She pours over old maps, seemingly searching for something she can't find and truly missing him. To step outside his comfort zone, Henry insists the Browns head to Peru to visit Aunt Lucy and see if anything is wrong. Upon their arrival, however, they learn that Aunt Lucy has gone missing, so the family heads out to find her and bring her back while Mrs. Bird stays behind with the Reverend Mother.

Based on a map Paddington found in Aunt Lucy's room, the Browns start with the destination of Rumi Rock, believing that that's where Lucy is going. They hire a boat captained by the skilled Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter, Gina (Carla Tous). Upon learning where they are going, Hunter suggests that Rumi Rock is typically where the search for the Lost City of El Dorado begins for anyone searching for it. Eventually, greed takes Cabot over, and he becomes the film's villain, using poor Paddington to his advantage.

The Browns get separated from Paddington, and in many ways, it's all similar to the previous films, considering a scenario in which Paddington needs rescuing by the Browns. However, they do a good job of changing each scenario. In the first one, he's getting saved from someone who wants to stuff and mount him; in the second, it's a prison; and here, the Browns play the "fish out of water" role and are put to more of a disadvantage, especially with Henry's arachnophobia and giant, purple tarantulas hanging about.

While this is a solid third entry into a series, and I still enjoyed it a lot, I still missed Sally Hawkins in her role as Mary, and there's a thing or two to this that might end up irking the more educated or sophisticated viewer. One thing in particular almost got to me. But at the end of the day, it's all straightforward. 'Paddington' is a series that audiences shouldn't take too seriously. One should approach this and its predecessors with an open mind, an open heart, and a reminder that this is supposed to be silly fun with a good message or two behind it.

4/5

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