February 24th, 2025

‘The Godfather: Part III’

‘Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi’

‘The Dark Knight Rises’

It’s always tough to follow up an undeniable sequel. The hopes are always that the story continues it’s journey upwards. When the follow up to the original is undeniable the results are exponential, both in terms of box office success and of lasting effect on the zeitgeist. But all three of the aforementioned films are more of a step back than a step forward. I’m not saying they’re bad even, it’s just that the films that came before them are so earth shattering that it’s hard to have anywhere for expectations to be other than downwards. Where can you go after Darth Vader reveals his parentage? Or Phoenix Buchanan reveals his villainy in a pink jail uniform?

And so arrives ‘Paddington in Peru’ a follow up to a rare perfect film and while Ben Whishaw’s delightfully silly bear is back doing all his adorable antics the pure magic of ‘Paddington 2’ is such a perfect example of lightning in a bottle it’s hard to figure out where it ever came from. And yet P3 (Paddington 3) does make a valiant effort. It gets shorted right out the gate by lacking the return of what to me is the beating heart of the film.

Sally Hawkins made the decision to walk away from the franchise for her own reasons, and while the immensely talented Emily Mortimer does the role justice, it does lack some punch at the more emotional sequences when you know that was not the woman who found a small bear from Peru and brought him into our homes. Other than that it has all the same table stakes of a Paddington film. Antonio Banderas and Olivia Coleman both put on wonderful performances, albeit not quite reaching the heights of Brendan Gleeson and Hugh Grant’s work from the prior film.

Every other member of the Brown family has returned, with Hugh Bonneville playing Mr. Brown, trying to impress his new risk loving American boss. Both children Jonanthan and Judy played by Samuel Joslin and Madeleine Harris respectively. It’s a shame they couldn’t talk Sally Hawkins into coming back, I expect it may have had something to do with original director Paul King departing to focus on Wonka, leaving Paddington and the Browns behind to be directed by newcomer Dougal Wilson.

As Paddington journeys to his native Peru to find his missing Aunt Lucy the crew goes with him, and much of the film is shot on location in the country, including one of the highlights of the film, a chase sequence around Machu Picchu. It must be embarassing for some Academy Award nominees that are set in Latin America that a movie about a silly bear managed to shoot on location while they settled for pretending that France is Mexico.

Much of the story is about how the other Brown children are growing up and apart. Soon they will be off to university and Paddington will still be a small bear, living in a townhome in London. The most emotional beats are about what it means to be a family, or even dare say an adopted immigrant, and how while Paddington may always be Peruvian, and a bear, he will most importantly be a member of his family, a brown, in London, where he belongs. And that message is more important now than it maybe has ever been.

3.5/5