Though he’s from the jungles of Peru, Paddington is British through and through. Sent to London by his kind and wise Aunt Lucy, the orphaned bear was adopted by the Brown family, named after the train station where they found him and inserted into a modern-day society that had forgotten its manners. Thankfully, Paddington mastered the “hard stare” and reminded anyone who crossed him and his loved ones that there were better choices to be made.
First published in the 1950s, Michael Bond’s Paddington books are children’s classics. My parents read them with me alongside The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, The Berenstain Bears and Corduroy — bears were big in my household. The Paddington books are perfect for kids: hijinks and hilarity, morals and manners, and plenty of marmalade sandwiches.
That might sound light and frivolous, and when the first live-action adaptation came out in 2014, it was. But we’re a far cry from 2014, and the sweet sentiment at the heart of Paddington hits different in sour times.
The latest installment in the franchise, Paddington in Peru, reunites the majority of the cast from the first two movies, with Ben Whishaw reprising his vocal role of the marmalade-loving Paddington, Hugh Bonneville as the risk-averse insurance salesman Mr. Brown and Dame Julie Walters as the resourceful Mrs. Bird. Emily Mortimer replaces Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Brown (a fair trade).
Joining the caper is Olivia Coleman as the Reverend Mother in charge of Peru’s Home for Retired Bears — where Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) resides — and Antonio Banderas as Hunter Cabot, an Amazonian tourist boat captain who agrees to take the Browns and Paddington up the river for less than altruistic reasons. There are two Brown children (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin), and Cabot has a daughter (Carla Tous), but they’re mostly window-dressing.
Paddington in Peru feels a little overstuffed when it tries to find something for everyone to do, but it never gets too out of hand. It’s an adventure story in the classic Saturday matinee sense, with Banderas and Coleman hamming it up as much as possible, particularly in the scenes where Cabot’s deceased ancestors goad him on.
The silliness might be off-putting to some, but it’s all in good fun. Dougal Wilson replaces Paul King in the director’s chair, and the movie loses a touch of whimsy — hallmarks of the first two installments. But Wilson, in his debut, brings enough frothy comedy alongside Whishaw’s indelible vocal performance as the titular bear. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read one of Bond’s books again without hearing Whishaw’s voice in my head.
But what makes Paddington in Peru salient is the world in which we watch it. Here is a story about an immigrant finding home in another land and family in the charity of adoption. The call of ancestry might pull Paddington back to the jungles of Peru, but it’s also where he discovers that just because you are from somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where you belong.
There’s an early scene in the movie where Paddington receives his British passport. The neighbors and the Browns gather to watch him open the envelope and celebrate. When Mr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent) hears of the official document, he congratulates Paddington: “You’re a real British citizen now!”
Yes, I know I’m watching a digital bear, and I know that this embrace of refugees is not a current reality in London — and certainly not in the country I call home — but these are the moments that move me. It’s a reminder that at one point, no matter how fleeting, this was true. And maybe, someday, it will be again.
Who knows? Maybe the kid watching Paddington in Peru today won’t grow up to be a film critic for a weekly newspaper, but a crusader who will fight for the rights of others because, as Paddington says: “If we’re kind and polite, the world will be right.” One can always hope.
ON SCREEN: Paddington in Peru opens in theaters Feb. 14.