Ivan Radford | On 22, Mar 2025

Director: Dougal Wilson
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman, Julie Walters
Certificate: PG

What is it that makes Paddington Paddington? Is it Ben Whishaw’s softly spoken vocals? Is it the heartfelt message of welcome and inclusion? Is it the playful romping around London? Is it the marmalade sandwiches? Paddington in Peru takes the bear out of the city and back to his home turf – but loses something of himself along the way.

His homecoming is kicked off by a letter from the Home for Retired Bears in Peru, where Aunt Lucy has been acting strangely. Flying to Peru with the Brown family – Henry (Hugh Bonneville), Mary (Emily Mortimer replacing Sally Hawkins), Judy (Madeleine Harris), Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) and Mrs Bird (Julie Walters) – they discover that Aunt Lucy has gone missing and set about trying to find her. Helping them on their way are a slew of star cameos, including Olivia Colman as an always-sunny Reverend Mother and Antonio Banderas as a greed-obsessed riverboat captain, Hunter Cabot.

What ensues is a caper that’s much bigger than previous Paddington outings, taking in everything from rickety plane journeys over jungles to outrunning boulders by the mythical city of El Dorado. The cast are all clearly enjoying themselves, as Hugh Bonneville finds courage inside the risk-averse Henry, Olivia Colman hams up her “hallelujah”s and Antonio Banderas gamely descends into madness. Whishaw, as ever, is flawlessly cast as the kind, honest, hard-staring bear.

But there’s something absent in the Paddington recipe. It’s partly the lack of Sally Hawkins as Mary – although Emily Mortimer does a good job of trying to fill her shoes – but it’s primarily the departure of Paul King from the helm. King, who has been a master of whimsy and creativity since the innovative Bunny and the Bull, is sorely missed, as the threequel loses some of that inventive charm. Dougal Wilson crafts set pieces with confidence for a director making a feature debut, but the practical and tangible sense of Paddington’s wit and heart is gone.

There are still nice ideas here, but they feel more generic and formulaic rather than surprising or moving. It’s most noticeable in a nifty subplot involving Paddington hearing an echo of himself, which sadly ditches any potentially profound resolution for something more conventional and emotionally underwhelming. Paddington, for all the franchises’s inspired knockabout comedy, has always succeeded by wearing its heart on its sleeve. This harmless third outing mistakes that heart for marmalade sandwiches. It’s pleasant enough, but sticky more than sweet.

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