Olivia Colman plays a singing nun. I’m almost prepared to say that’s all you need to know about Paddington in Peru: that Olivia Colman, living English treasure, gets her Julie Andrews on and leads a song-and-dance sequence on an alpine meadow that tells us that the hills are still very much alive. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that her Reverend Mother proves to be something less than exemplary in the deadly sins department, at least the ones that involve lying. That’s the best bit, in fact: the singing nun in the naughty corner.
Paddington in Peru is the third film to adapt Michael Bond’s iconic children’s stories. All of it is fine, actually, not just Colman’s homage to the Von Trapps. Directing duties have passed from Paul King to Dougal Wilson, who may not have King’s Midas touch with physical comedy, but has otherwise kept the ship steady. The story elements, for example, are recognizable: we’re on another treasure hunt, with another glamorous villain and more slapstick sequences where Paddington gets wrong-pawed by the workings of everyday items. The only difference – and it’s a spectacular difference, admittedly – is that we’re not in picture-postcard London any more. We’re in the Andes, looking down at Machu Picchu.
The adventure kicks off briskly. Paddington receives a letter from Peru telling him that his beloved Aunt Lucy has inexplicably gone missing from her jungle cabin at the Home for Retired Bears. What to do? Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville), under fire at work for being insufficiently risk-taking, is persuaded that the whole family should go to Peru to look for her, braving tarantulas, piranhas and other quantifiable dangers. With Mr. Brown in his new, sartorially risk-taking holiday wardrobe, they’ll surely find her in a jiffy.
A change of continents has allowed Paddington’s production designers, this time headed up by Andrew Kelly, to double down on their spectacular inventiveness. The Home for Retired Bears, benignly administered by the musical nuns, resembles an island gentlemen’s club in early Bond movies: think cane furniture, the wistful whiff of Empire and a faintly sinister air.
Then we’re all on board dashing Captain Cabot’s boat, a glorious confection of brass fittings and polished wood, heading upriver. Aunt Lucy, it transpires, has gone looking for the lost Inca treasure of El Dorado; Captain Cabot (Antonio Banderas), haunted by the greedy ghosts of his conquistador forebears, is determined to beat her to it.
The dramatis personae are comfortably familiar. As Paddington, Ben Whishaw’s slightly plaintive voice merges seamlessly with Pablo Grillo’s furry animation. Has a hero ever been more irresistibly adorable? Bonneville, as the ineffectually pompous Mr. Brown, always gives the impression of having a whale of a time. The Brown children (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin) are 10 years older than they were at the start, but still reassuringly batty; crotchety Mrs Bird (Julie Walters) continues to attack misbehaving electrics with a giant spanner.
Other characters are new, but we see immediately where they fit. Banderas essentially serves the same purpose as Hugh Grant did in Paddington 2: he’s over the top and up to no good. So robust is the established Paddington model, in fact, that we barely register that Mrs. Brown is now being played by Emily Mortimer rather than Sally Hawkins. Mortimer is grounded and mumsy where Hawkins was flighty and impetuous, but she slots in so nicely – or perhaps the slot itself is so well crafted – that she seems to have always been there.
In another respect, however, the new story (by Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Mark Burton) takes us into new territory. We all know that Paddington Bear arrived as an immigrant with no papers, beyond the label saying “Please look after this bear,” and was adopted and protected by the Browns. This film begins with the arrival of his new British passport, making him a citizen at last. Even on that happy day, however, he feels the tug of another home when he looks at an Inca carving in the antique shop owned by Mr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent). That pull of the past becomes overwhelming in the Peruvian jungle, Paddington is able to trace his roots for the first time.
The bear is torn, a divided self; it is the immigrant experience, conveyed without condescension but in a way that even very young children will understand. At the end of the quest, he faces a dilemma — where does he belong? – even as the Browns restate their love for him. I admit I got a bit teary.
It doesn’t matter if this film is much the same sort of thing as the last one, warmed over. In fact, that’s exactly what you want: third time around, the story of the little bear welcomed by strangers remains magical. And if it’s novelty you’re after, there’s Olivia Colman, twirling on a mountain-top in a nun’s habit. You know you want to see that.
Title: Paddington in Peru
Distributor: Studiocanal/Sony
Release date: November 8, 2024 (UK)/January 17, 2025 (U.S.)
Director: Dougal Wilson
Writers: Mark Burton, Jon Foster, James Lamont, Paul King, Simon Farnaby
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Carla Tous, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, and Ben Whishaw
Rating: PG
Running time: 1 hr 46 mins