I'm a big Paddington fan. I grew up reading the books, and there's a picture somewhere of me with the Paddington statue from my trip to London when I was six years old. Needless to say, the movie adaptations of the beloved story were a hit in my house. My mother and I were practically counting down the days to the release of Paddington in Peru in theatres. But I will say I came away from it disappointed.
Out the gate, I miss Sally Hawkins. She is one of my favourite actresses ever, and I think really was the glue of the family dynamics. Hawkins just embodies a warmth and quirkiness that I think is missing from this iteration. I'm sorry Emily Mortimer! It just wasn't the same. Paddington in Peru was also directed by Dougal Wilson instead of Paul King, responsible for the first two films and an integral part of the writing process. King is also responsible for Wonka, which makes sense, and maybe is partly why he didn't return for the third instalment of Paddington?
This being said, I feel like the themes of Paddington in Peru seem fundamentally different. The Brown children are older, and it really centres around the family needing to connect and spend more time together. Classic my-teenagers-don't-talk-to-me-and-we-need-family-time storyline. I'm not here to watch a movie about uni applications and the British version of Axe body spray keeping the family apart, I need whimsy and childlike wonder.
Paddington in Peru could almost be called Paddington 3: Repatriation, which is apropos considering all the drama with the British museum's ongoing repatriation issues. Anyways. He goes back to Peru to find his family! Spoiler, he ends up returning to London with the Browns instead of staying there, and I can't help but read into that a bit.
It's basically a treasure hunt movie. There are so many other solid gold/treasure hunt movies like Indiana Jones or even National Treasure. Can people not resist a treasure hunt when something takes place in South America? To me, I feel like this aspect of the storyline, looking for El Dorado, doesn't make a ton of sense in the Paddington Universe. The main antagonist, Hunter Cabot, played by Antonio Banderas was interesting—he seemed very troubled and intense. Like, hallucinating his ancestors telling him to kill Paddington? It's a bit much. I also did not care for Olivia Colman's little musical number as a nun. It really gives me the impression that they were trying to capitalize on the success of Hugh Grant's character from Paddington 2, especially that musical number at the end. I will admit that I liked how Banderas played all his predecessors, a nod to the costume changes Grant's villain had as an actor—but it really didn't work for me. It was too corny. You can't reinvent what's already perfect.
Overall, I'm glad I watched Paddington in Peru, but likely won't revisit it in the future. Paddington 2 is one of the highest rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes, like, ever, and I think they should've just stopped while they were ahead.
Share your thoughts!
Be the first to start the conversation.