‘Everything you want is there but it doesn’t reach the lofty standards of Paddington 2’

The third installment in the Paddington series is a “wholesome, colorful adventure yarn”, but it can’t quite recreate the “blissful magic” of its predecessor.

How do you follow the best movies of all time? Well, this may be an exaggeration, but 2021 has seen a flurry of articles claiming Paddington 2 (2017). It received more positive reviews than Citizen Kane.Orson Welles’ masterpiece that is always hailed as one of the high points of cinema. How can the third Paddington movie live up to that?

Compounding the challenge, Paddington in Peru does not have Paul King, the same director who directed the first two Paddington films; he and Simon Farnaby co-wrote the screenplay. Sally Hawkins also left the series, and Emily Mortimer took over the role of Mrs. Brown, the matriarch of Paddington’s adoptive family. I decided to take over. The good news is that Mortimer and new manager Dougal Wilson are both reliable replacements. On the one hand, it is clear that they were both hired to imitate someone rather than to provide their own characteristics. And in general there is a feeling that the Peruvian Paddington is its replacement. It’s trying hard to recreate the blissful magic that Paddington 2 seemed to effortlessly evoke.

Still, the new film advances from its predecessor in some shrewd ways. The most obvious difference is that, as the title suggests, the Peruvian Paddington does not stay in London for long. Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi) is nowhere to be seen, Mr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent) has only one brief scene, and the Brown family’s neighbors in Windsor Gardens are first glimpsed and then forgotten. . It also makes sense that the Brown family’s destination is the country where the marmalade-loving bear was born. So the rainy streets of England are soon replaced by the sun-dappled jungle-covered mountains and valleys of the Amazon. This is a smart way to take the series in some new direction while preserving the established legend.

What happens is that Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw with his usual gentle, suspicious sincerity) discovers that his aunt Lucy has created the Twilight Year (or the Twilight Year of the Bear). He receives a letter from a nun who runs a nursing home where he spends his time. film preference measurements). The nun, known as Reverend Mother, is a peppy acoustic guitar-strumming character played with cheerful vigor by Olivia Colman. And since this role was perfect for her, I was left wondering why she didn’t play a peppy acoustic guitar. A nun is strumming in front. Still, her costume begs the question of whether it’s as hilarious as Hugh Grant’s disguise as a nun in Paddington 2. And I think everyone knows the answer.

Anyway, the Reverend Mother informs Paddington that his Aunt Lucy is acting strangely because she is too lonely. Meanwhile, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville), Judy (Madeline Harris), and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) are becoming estranged, and a trip to South America allows them to spend some quality time together before Judy heads off to college. I thought it was a great opportunity. . After a vivid montage, Paddington, the Browns, and their trusty Scottish housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) fly across the Atlantic and take a bus through the jungle, only to discover that Lucy disappears from the bear house. Know what you did. They must follow her footsteps down the Amazon River, but that means hiring a riverboat captained by a handsome explorer (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter (Carla Tooth).

Is there something suspicious about the portraits of gold-hungry conqueror ancestors that explorers hang on the walls of their wood-paneled huts? And is there anything suspicious about the way Pastor Mather keeps insisting that the retired bear house is not suspicious at all? One of the most enjoyable things about Peru’s Paddington is that it doesn’t try to keep the villains’ shenanigans a secret. The joke is that while the Brown family may not understand what the explorer and the nun are up to, it’s clearly obvious to the rest of us.

Dotted with waterfalls, piranhas, double crosses and Incan mysteries, the Brown family’s jungle exploration is a wholesome, well-constructed adventure with plenty of quirky charm, animated interludes and musical numbers that have come to define the Paddington series. It is the subject of a colorful adventure story. What is it? Banderas is great as the conflicted villain, and the resolution is both satisfying and clever. So Peru’s Paddington is better than 90% of children’s movies. But it’s impossible to avoid the obvious comparisons – and the fact is that it doesn’t live up to Paddington 2’s high standards.

Everything you want is there, but it’s not as good as it was in 2017. Mystery plots are more contrived, with too many convoluted backstories, the action is more cartoonishly stupid, and there’s little real danger. Jokes and farces can make you laugh, but only two or three of them actually make you laugh. This movie also doesn’t evoke much sympathy. The script touches on what Gruber calls the “mixed emotions” of being an immigrant and the importance of spending time with family, both themes in a brave and ironic way of demonstrating civility and inclusivity. It hasn’t been treated with as much heart and enthusiasm as the acclaimed Paddington 2. And Aunt Lucy’s latest rhyming motto, “When the sky is gray/Hope is the way,” is as good as her final motto, “When we are kind and civil/The world will be right.” It is unlikely to become widespread.

Maybe Paddington 2 has ruined us. In contrast, Peru’s Paddington provides a fun and lively hour and three-quarters in theaters, and while it’s no snort, it’s more of an establishment piece than a piece of great pop culture. It impresses as a solid third part of the series. A phenomenon in itself. And the announcement that more sequels and a TV series have been greenlit is no less exciting. No matter how sweet and delicious they are, some movie franchises, like Marmalade Sandwich, need polishing before they get stale.

Paddington in Peru will be released in the UK on November 8th and in the US on January 17th.