Paddington in Peru

The first two 'Paddingtons' were superb 'family fun' films - but the third, "Paddington In Peru", without writer / director Paul King or London as its location, is not. The titular bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) returns to his native Peru with adoptive family Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer (replacing Sally Hawkins (shame)), Julie Walters, & kids - where they're pulled into a gold-hunting jungle adventure with the likes of Olivia Colman & Antonio Banderas. Old faves like Hugh Grant & Joel Fry cameo, and first-time director Dougal Wilson does fine, but nothing lifts the tame screenplay from Mark Burton, Jon Foster, & James Lamont. It's passable... but not a REAL 'Paddington'.

All the key plot points and characters are there. But the script seems underdeveloped which meant the characters were more like finger puppets being paraded through each scene. Most of the time if felt like the cast were just waiting for their lines to be written.

The pace was also too slow which would have been helped by some good writing and perhaps editing.

The overall story is good and the last act certainly pulls at the heartstrings which leaves you feeling a certain degree of satisfaction.

I wished the script had more wit and charm to pump some life into the characters. The movie is like an uninflected doll. If it had air pumped into it, it would have come fully to life!

If, like me, you agree that the first two Paddington films are amongst the greatest films ever made this will be both an enjoyable essential but also a disappointment.

Because it's not about Paddington adapting to living with a family in London or how a normal family adapts to living with a bear, it loses its original charm and certainly its humour. This is just another jungle adventure movie...but with a bear. It has a different feel about it - more sentimental and noticeably not as funny. Whereas the first two were hilarious to a decrepit old Marx Brothers fan like me, this one is definitely more of a family film clearly aimed at children.

I could say we need more of the Brown family and of their neighbours.....I could also say we need Sally Hawkins but what's the point. We had all that in the first two and since they were...dare I say, perfect, there'd be no point trying to copy them.

So yes, this is different, it's horribly over-sentimental at times and nothing like as funny but it's still Paddington. Routine family fun rather than hilarious quirky cuteness.

Paddington in Peru is comfortably the weakest of the trilogy with the absence of Paul King and Simon Farnaby definitely being felt but this is still a delightful third instalment that loses none of the heart and brings everything set up in the first act to a neat conclusion thanks to another satisfying third act. It's a consistently funny adventure which never forgets the immigrant story at the heart of this as Paddington struggles to balance his past and future.

Ben Whishaw remains endlessly precious with another pitch perfect vocal performance so Paddington continues to be a much needed cinematic balm. Hugh Bonneville is really funny as he tries to be more courageous and Emily Mortimer is a worthy replacement even if Sally Hawkins is missed. Antonio Banderas gets to do everything Dial of Destiny stopped him doing, having a ball whilst he does it and Olivia Colman as a suspicious singing nun is another big highlight.

Dougal Wilson's direction brings enough whimsy through carrying over ideas from the predecessors and some new inventive ones as well as a few well placed references to other films. There's a lot of slapstick here as usual and it always escalates in unexpected ways. The CGI is pushed like never before, making it all the more impressive that the effects that bring Paddington to life rarely falter despite the sheer amount of CG bears this time.

Number 3 in the franchise looked amazing in the trailer

My favourite part was Hugh Grant's cameo piece don't miss it

Both Paddington 1 & 2 were brilliant so this had a lot to live up to , sadly it's not as good as the other 2 but it's not either

The theme was family & growing up and leaving the nest wherever that nest was , it was nice to see 75% of the actors reprise their role & the loss of the original mother to Emily Mortimer didn't affect the story in any way

The search for El Dorado was a great inclusion. It added tension with the goodies & the baddies with high grants character safely locked away

It was good but it wasn't brilliant let's hope part 4 is better

Pad. A 6/10.