Feature movie review: PADDINGTON IN PERU 

• Sony Pictures
• Paddington in Peru

When Paddington 2 made its U.S. theatrical premiere in January 2018, we were a year into a presidency characterized by chaos, cruelty and stupidity. We already knew this incarnation of author Michael Bond's domesticated bear from 2014's Paddington, but Paddington 2 took things to another level in terms of wit, charm and energy. It was the kind of movie parents always claim they want for their children, but too rarely support—a story about a protagonist who changed others through his simple, honest goodness, and embraced seeing people as flawed but redeemable. Delivered in the package of a thrilling, hilarious adventure, it was about the power and value of relentless optimism and calling people to be their best selves—and it felt like exactly the kind of movie that was needed in its time.

Well. Here we are again. It has been seven years between installments as Paddington in Peru makes its debut, appearing in an American climate that's much the same as last time, but worse. And while it might be too much to ask for music video veteran/first-time feature director Dougal Wilson to match the previous films' director, Paul King, for sheer filmmaking mastery, Paddington in Peru still provides a kind of balm for the soul—106 minutes of reminder that you're not completely insane for wanting a world that's decent.

There may have been a couple of changes in Paddington's world living in London with Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and the Brown family since then—the children are practically adults, and Mrs. Brown now looks an awful lot more like Emily Mortimer than she does Sally Hawkins—but Paddington himself (still voiced by Ben Whishaw) remains settled comfortably into life as a naturalized English bear, complete with passport. And it turns out he's going to need it, as he receives word that his beloved Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) is doing poorly at her Home for Retired Bears back in his native South America, sending the whole family on a vacation adventure.

Plenty of the appeal of the first two Paddington features came from the effective use of its "guest stars"—Nicole Kidman in the first, Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson in the second—in performances that refused to play down to the idea of "it's just a kids' movie." That tradition certainly continues here, with Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas throwing themselves fully into their ambiguous roles. Both actors have shown their facility for comedy previously—Banderas with his Puss in Boots voice work, Colman most recently in Paul King's Wonka—but here they're really given the chance to be gleefully, earnestly goofy, and it's a joy to behold. You may not have thought that you wanted to see Colman as a guitar-playing nun in a play on The Sound of Music, or Banderas trying to resist the "gold madness" of his character's ancestors, but you'll be glad someone did.

Still, when push comes to shove, the Paddington movies never lose sight of the fact that they're about Paddington. Whishaw's voice work continues to be utterly delightful, maintaining a hold on the center of the narrative even when he's the relatively "normal" character. Dougal's action sequences are quite well-crafted, particularly the dueling climaxes involving a chase through ancient ruins and a plane in danger, but like King's, they're used as a complement to storytelling, not a substitute for it. Everyone involved knows that there's something sweet and emotional at the core.

That "something" is perhaps best encapsulated by Paddington's now-familiar "hard stare"—that discomfiting reminder that someone has forgotten their manners. The lessons from Aunt Lucy that he's fond of sharing are all about those common-sense values that allow folks to live together in harmony, including an idea as basic as valuing other people more than you value treasure. Paddington in Peru does get a bit muddled in its ideas about family, introducing a notion of parents on the verge of becoming empty-nesters that it doesn't quite know what to do with. But more than celebrations of found family, these movies are funny, entertaining tales about living with a moral compass. In a world of people in need of a good hard stare, we should treasure how this bear can remind us to be more human.