FILM
FOUND FAMILY ‘Paddington in Peru’ is a sweet sentiment for a sour time BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
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hough 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. BOULDER WEEKLY
of hand. It’s an adventure story The latest installment in the With Ben Whishaw in the classic Saturday matinee franchise, Paddington in Peru, reprising his vocal sense, with Banderas and reunites the majority of the role as the marmaColeman hamming it up as much cast from the first two movies, lade-loving bear, as possible, particularly in the with Ben Whishaw reprising Paddington in Peru scenes where Cabot’s deceased his vocal role of the marmais an adventure ancestors goad him on. lade-loving Paddington, Hugh story in the classic The silliness might be off-putBonneville as the risk-averse Saturday matinee ting to some, but it’s all in good insurance salesman Mr. sense. Courtesy: fun. Dougal Wilson replaces Paul Brown and Dame Julie Sony Pictures King in the director’s chair, and Walters as the resourceful the movie loses a touch of whimsy — Mrs. Bird. Emily Mortimer replaces Sally hallmarks of the first two installments. But Hawkins as Mrs. Brown (a fair trade). Wilson, in his debut, brings enough frothy Joining the caper is Olivia Coleman as comedy alongside Whishaw’s indelible the Reverend Mother in charge of Peru’s vocal performance as the titular bear. I Home for Retired Bears — where Aunt don’t think I’ll ever be able to read one of Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) resides Bond’s books again without hearing — and Antonio Banderas as Hunter Whishaw’s voice in my head. Cabot, an Amazonian tourist boat captain But what makes Paddington in Peru who agrees to take the Browns and Paddington up the river for less than altru- salient is the world in which we watch it. Here is a story about an immigrant finding istic reasons. There are two Brown chilhome in another land and family in the dren (Madeleine Harris and Samuel charity of adoption. The call of ancestry Joslin), and Cabot has a daughter (Carla might pull Paddington back to the jungles Tous), but they’re mostly window-dressof Peru, but it’s also where he discovers ing. that just because you are from somePaddington in Peru feels a little overwhere doesn’t necessarily mean that’s stuffed when it tries to find something for where you belong. everyone to do, but it never gets too out
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. FEBRUARY 13, 2025
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