Paddington in Peru

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.

The third Paddington Movie has a very weak start and has symptoms of a little feverdream. There are many little moments that fell like the production wanted to fill the movie with a gag that has nothing to do with the story. Sometimes the story just moves too fast with out of nowhere decisions. But with the time the story starts to grab your attention and has some good funny moments. The story has good parts with a good timing but there are also scenes that feel just to long, like as mentioned in the beginning feels just like the existence is to fill to get to a specific length. The end with their clips is a good ending wich has some running Gags wich are good used but weren't necessary.

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.

Paddington in Peru is an ok movie that could have been so much more due to its international setting but it the weakest of the three movies in my books.

Slow buildup in the first act does significant damage to the well crafted narrative of the movie. Funny antics of our titular Bear does save the grace but what takes the cake is the performance of Antonio Banderas who seems to have a ball with his character.

The third act is the saving grace as the lovable family finally catches up in the majestic mountains of Machu Picchu and the Inca civilization.

However, I feel the audience were expecting more of silly adventure in the Peruvian Jungle and the Amazon than it turned out to be.

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!