There is a dearth of really good family movies in the modern era. Largely because of the monopolies of Disney, Sony, and Illumination and the predominant style of flashy images and easy humour that transcends all of them, American animation is in its least ambitious, most monotonous era. And the live-action or hybrid family film has either disappeared altogether or been relegated to effortless I.P. farming -like that Haunted Mansion movie or this year’s Minecraft- condescending to one subset of their ostensibly broad audience.
Yet a charming exception can be found in the Paddington movies, which have stood as a couple of the few honestly great and genuinely wholesome family movies of the last decade. Marrying some of the mores of modern CG animation comedy with the sharp British sensibility of this national icon, Paddington, like its titular character, found a humble little place of its own in the contemporary cinema landscape. Of course the long-awaited Paddington in Peru sees the lovable London bear and his Brown family leave that particular comfort, and there is substantial risk in that -as well as in the replacement of two of the stalwarts of the prior films, writer-director Paul King and Mrs. Brown herself, Sally Hawkins. And while those losses are felt by the film, the heart of Paddington has not gone anywhere.
The same can’t be said for the good little bear though, as a concerning letter about his Aunt Lucy’s declining mental state prompts Paddington to return to Peru, taking the Brown family along with him of course. Once they arrive they find that Aunt Lucy has left the Home for Retired Bears on some mysterious errand, so Paddington and company charter a boat captained by Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) to take them down the Amazon to find her.
It is a sparer plot perhaps than even the prior two movies, but the new team inheriting the creative reigns from King and Simon Farnaby (who have a story credit) headed up by director Dougal Wilson, supplement it very well with the kinds of humourous side threads and character arcs that have coloured the series as a whole. Hugh Bonneville’s Henry Brown is on a mission to take more risks, challenged in this jungle environment by his arachnophobia. Mary Brown, now played by Emily Mortimer (who does as good a job as can be expected in replacing Hawkins) is concerned about the family staying together as son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) is spending more time alone and daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) is preparing to go off to college. These story beats don’t get quite the attention their equivalents did in Paddington 2 as the movie focuses far more of its energy on Paddington’s story and that of the two “guests” -Banderas and Olivia Colman as the cheerful Mother Superior. But they still play out with a similar satisfaction.
The Paddington movies are often as much about the big-name foil as they are about the charming bear though. This film plays more coyly with the status of either of these characters as villains, the film shifting its tone around their motivations multiple times. But all the way through they are fun personalities. Banderas gets to play his boat captain as well as the several ancestor ghosts who haunt him as he succumbs to a generational curse of gold fever that for a time sees the movie transform into Aguirre the Wrath of God (with a little of Fitzcarraldo for good measure) when he and Paddington pursue a trail to El Dorado. He has and relates a good deal of fun with it, though nothing compared to Colman, whose winking buoyancy and unwavering grin never lose their comedic lustre. She plays into and exploits the suspicion of her character in quite wonderful ways, and especially when paired with Julie Walters's Mrs. Bird, their dynamic is exquisite. She ultimately gets the best joke of the movie too which I can't reveal but involves her habit.
Another thing that makes the Paddington movies rare among family films is indeed the particular cleverness and spontaneity to their humour. A lot of it is that quintessential British character that prioritizes ingenuity and wit over the kind of confident American showiness so prominent in most U.S. kids movies; but it's a style that works for a reason, and these writers and actors are more than adept in its rhythms. It also incorporates plenty of good character-based comedy that feels organic, creative physical gags, and slapstick. Even where the humour isn't so effective, the air of fun about it is contagious -especially the "Paddington in Peru" song that the Mother Superior sings just prior to Paddington's arrival, and an Indiana Jones-style set-piece Paddington and Cabot contend with in a Machu Picchu-like Incan ruin. And that's to say nothing of things like the dream sequences and transition beats that the writers find unique ways of expressing -I especially love a little vision of nostalgia from Mrs. Brown, rendered as a fluid painting.
These touches add more life and colour to a movie already bursting with it. While the Peruvian setting may be limiting in terms of the cast of characters (I missed Peter Capaldi's Mr. Curry greatly), and the singular journey narrows the narrative scope a tad, it also provides the opportunity of showcasing a more unpredictable environment, setting Paddington and his family down in a distinct new context, and crucially keeping them together for a bulk of the narrative. It also allows for a more driven Paddington, his natural sincerity and kindness channeled into a touching and noble determination to find his beloved Aunt. It is such warm, pure motivation that voice of Paddington Ben Whishaw is able to convey with charm rather than cloying sentimentality; and the stakes grow more compelling the deeper into the jungle Paddington delves. The trick of these movies is to contrast the very humble, selfless goals of Paddington with far greater, more sinister ambitions of his enemies that happen to lie on the same track. This is the movie that really does well to emphasize that these aims of Paddington's -to reunite with his family, to make others happy- are just as big and just as consequential, certainly by the end.
"There is nothing so irresistibly contagious as good humour" -it is a line from A Christmas Carol that I think very nicely applies to the effect of the Paddington series, movies that are so earnest and good-natured that you can hardly bring yourself to dislike them. Paddington in Peru does feel different from its predecessors, perhaps not quite so neat and dynamic, but it is still as endearing a model, still as smart and inventive, and genuinely cute. An all-around delightful movie that puts a smile on your face and keeps your heart warm for days afterward. Paddington came back at a ripe time to deliver such a feeling.
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