Review - Paddington Bear's beloved Aunt Lucy might say that whenever you approach a new year with trepidation and concern for the future, seek out a Paddington movie and instantly feel better about the world.
The first feature film in this series came out in 2014 and it's hard to imagine that it wasn't always going to be a sure-fire hit. Even the filmmakers themselves seemed to be unsure of what they had, with the original voice of Paddington, Colin Firth, dropping out during post-production, necessitating a quick bit of recasting. They ended up with Ben Whishaw, and he has proven to be an inspired choice, there's literally no one else that you can imagine doing it now.
The other secret weapon in the Paddington franchise was writer-director Paul King. You wouldn't think that an alternative comedy TV background on shows like Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and The Mighty Boosh would lead naturally to beloved family entertainment like Paddington and Wonka, but he has been a spectacular success.
Now, I say "was" a secret weapon because King is not heavily involved in the latest edition, Paddington in Peru - he and co-writer Simon Farnaby only get a story credit this time with industry veteran Mark Burton and the writers of the Paddington TV series, Jon Foster and James Lamont. Directing duties are handled by award-winning commercials director Dougal Wilson.
Between them they have come up with a perfectly acceptable Paddington film, but the problem is that after the unequivocal masterpiece that was Paddington 2, that possibly isn't enough.
Paddington in Peru sees cinema's favourite refugee finally getting a British passport. Photo: StudioCanal
For those that don't know, Paddington is a talking bear from South America who lives with his adopted family, the Browns, in London and one of the themes of the Paddington story is that his open heartedness in the face of intolerance and selfishness is a lesson for us all in treating strangers as we would wish to be treated ourselves.
At the beginning of the film, Paddington's status as one of the world's most famous refugees finally changes as he is issued with a United Kingdom passport. (This is only fair as in 2022 he had lunch with the Queen to celebrate her Jubilee.) The passport means that when he receives a letter from the Reverend Mother at the Home for Retired Bears saying that Paddington's Aunt Lucy has inexplicably gone missing, he - and the rest of the Brown family - can go to South America and lead the search.
The Reverend Mother is played with her usual gusto by Olivia Colman and, fans of the previous films will speculate about which of the two big movie stars in the film (the other being Antonio Banderas) will turn out to be the villain of the piece.
Paddington heads to the Amazon with the Browns to search for his Aunt Lucy in the franchise's latest movie adventure. Photo: StudioCanal
Banderas plays a riverboat captain, guiding tourists up the Amazon into the jungle and he suspects that Aunt Lucy's quest has something to do with legends of hidden Inca gold, a treasure that many generations of his own family had been obsessed with.
For too much of the middle of the film, the urgency drops and the gag about Banderas playing the dream versions of all his own ancestors starts to wear thin, but I am pleased to report that Paddington in Peru does manage to bring everything home and even coax a sentimental tear from this grizzled old hack.
I think it's easy to take for granted that films aimed at children will always have a positive message and that audiences might emerge from the theatre keen to become better - more generous, kind and forgiving - people but it's not always the case. Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which I also saw this week, is entertaining enough, I suppose, especially with Jim Carrey back as the villain and the villain's grandfather, but it lacks the innocence that Paddington has. Far too many of Sonic's challenges are solved with punching and kicking and, to be honest, I don't think that's a helpful thing to be sitting kids down in front of.
And it's never something that Paddington would reduce himself to, not when he has a perfectly good stare.
Paddington in Peru is out in cinemas now.
