Well at long last Paddington in Peru made its way to cinema’s in North America, after a UK release in November and it’s North American Release getting pushed from January to February, and it was certainly worth the wait. The movie saw most of its starring cast return except for Sally Hawkins who played the mother in the Brown family as she decided to not return leading to the casting of Emily Mortimer in the role. Joining the cast was some notable names in Academy Award nominated Antonio Banderas and Academy Award winner Olivia Coleman. But the big question is how do you follow up a movie that was so highly received by critics and audiences like Paddington 2, something that was a question with The Dark Knight Rises following The Dark Knight.
Paddington continues to bring the laughs as the first two films in the franchise did, while bringing entertainment enjoyable for both the kids and adults alike. While it can be a risk to take a character like Paddington out of his London home area and take an adventure style film into the series, it was well done and thought out. The story bring the Paddington story full circle and revolves around a Brown family that as the kids are getting older is becoming a little divided and not as close as they have been in the past. All this while Paddington receives a letter from the Home for Retired Bears saying Aunt Lucy is not the same and missing Paddington. This launches Paddington (now an official British citizen) and the Brown family to take a trip to Peru to visit Aunt Lucy to discover she has gone missing. The Brown family must venture into the Amazon to try and find Aunt Lucy.
The addition of Antonio Banderas in his role as a boat captain, with ulterior motives for helping the Brown family, is a the best new role in the film as Antonio plays multiple roles, as you will see when you watch the film, brings plenty of laughs. Coleman as the The Reverend Mother is another great addition to the cast playing her goofy self, but gets out done by Banderas. The big casting change as mentioned above is the recasting of Mary Brown from Sally Hawkins to Emily Mortimer, which is a noticeable change and one that was alright, but wasn’t the same, to me at least without Sally in the role, but Emily does a good enough job to keep the movie going. There is and awkward moment of a flashback from the first film when they meet Paddington on the train station where they have to edit the flashback to not show Mary’s face but dub Emily’s voice into the scene to replace Sally’s. The mid credit scene is certainly worth staying and watching which will feature a great cameo appearance. I do wish we saw more of the cast from the first 2 films but understandably given the majority of the film takes place in Peru, that would prove more difficult.
In the end this is a great film for the kids as well as anyone really, as it is light, fun family film that has humor everyone can enjoy. In terms of the trilogy, Paddington in Peru I have being better than the first film, but not as good as the second. As a whole Paddington might be the best trilogy of family films, putting out three high quality films that may only be rivaled by Toy Story (1-3), Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda (1-3) and perhaps How To Train Your Dragon, note this is the only live action one. Also keep your eye out for a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Final Grade: 9/10
Check out the trailer:
– Everett
