32/47
Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now lives at the Bear Retirement Home. With the Brown family at the helm, an exciting adventure ensues when a mystery takes them on an unexpected journey. The director of the previous two films, Paul King, decided not to direct this installment. However, he came up with the idea for this third film and served as executive producer. Featured on The Graham Norton Show: Billy Crystal/Emily Mortimer/Hugh Bonneville/Pharrell Williams/Michael Kiwanuka (2024). If, like me, you agree that the first two Paddington films are among the greatest films ever made, this will be both enjoyable and disappointing. Since it’s not about Paddington adjusting to living with a family in London or how a normal family adjusts to life with a bear, it loses its original charm and certainly its humour. It’s just another jungle adventure movie…but with a bear. It has a different feel to it – more sentimental and noticeably less funny. While the first two were fun for a jaded old Marx Brothers fan like me, this one is definitely more of a family movie, clearly aimed at kids. I could say we need more of the Brown family and their neighbors… you could also say we need Sally Hawkins, but what’s the point. We had all that in the first two and since they were… dare I say, perfect, there was no point in trying to copy them. So yes, it’s different, terribly over-sentimental at times and nothing more than funny, but it’s still Paddington. Routine family fun, not hilariously weird cuteness.