Paddington in Peru is the worst in the franchise

It’d be delusional to think that Paddington had anywhere to go but down. Its 2017 sequel was so well received that it bordered on the cultish; whisper the words “Paddington 2” too close to a congregation of cinephiles and you might be accidentally responsible for a case of mass hysteria.

I may not be a card-carrying member of the Paddington 2 cult, but I’ll heartily agree that the series has been a sublime throwback to the quaint but rousing wonderlands of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, or Mary Poppins. Yet, regrettably, it appears director Paul King may have packed up most of that magic and taken it with him over to last year’s Wonka.

Paddington in Peru is lovely in the lowercase, being the awfully familiar stop in any fictional character’s history in which they’re forced to take a vacation and hit all their destination’s hottest tourist spots. Here, the target is, of course, Paddington’s country of origin. And so he visits Machu Picchu, rides a llama, and spends almost the entire runtime trying to find the mythical lost city of El Dorado.

It’s too conventional a plot for the world’s most well-mannered bear, and demands that too much of Mark Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont’s script is dedicated to manoeuvring Paddington into the position of adventure archaeologist. In short, he receives a letter from Peru, with concerning news that his beloved Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) has grown strange and distracted, only for her to disappear entirely when Paddington rocks up with the rest of the Brown family (all returning actors minus Sally Hawkins, who also jumped ship for Wonka but finds a worthy and nicely fretful replacement in Emily Mortimer).

A map guides the way, towards history lessons on the Spanish conquistadors and fairly unnecessary Paddington lore. Is there a flashback to a baby bear? Of course there is! Merchandise calls! And while there’s some lovely thematic bookending of the trip, in which fellow immigrant Mr Gruber (Jim Broadbent) explains to Paddington that adopting another country as home doesn’t mean turning your back on where you came from, the kind of emotional punch that’s turned the previous films into powerhouses feels comparatively sparse.

The same could be said for the direction of Dougal Wilson, who makes his debut here. There’s plenty of visual whimsy in the Browns’ London home, with its floating thought bubbles and living dollhouses, but it mostly evaporates by the time the characters hit Peru and opportunities arise for aerial shots of the Amazon. And even Paddington’s typical tomfoolery feels a little underutilised, minus a very funny sequence in a photo booth and a wonderful homage to Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Really, all you can do is take what joy you can from Paddington in Peru, because its pleasures are rarer but still sweet. Andy Kelly’s fastidious production design makes every interior look like an untouched escape room with secrets hidden under every trinket. And it’s entirely impossible to resist Olivia Colman gallivanting around in a habit while doing her best impression of Maria in The Sound of Music, or Antonio Banderas smouldering for the camera before performing a series of impressive pratfalls. The joy isn’t gone from Paddington in Peru. You might just want to adjust expectations.

Dir: Dougal Wilson. Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Carla Tous, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Ben Whishaw. PG, 106 mins.

‘Paddington in Peru’ is in cinemas from 8 November