Paddington in Peru - A Wonderful Ending to Complete the Trilogy of this Beloved Character

This week there were few new films released in Indonesian theaters that intrigued us. So my wife and I had another one of our movie marathon day with this being the first that we saw. Without further ado, here's more on it.

Brief Story Line

After spending years with the Brown family that consisted of Henry (Hugh Bonneville - Downtown Abbey TV series etc), Mary (Emily Mortimer - Mary Poppins Returns, The Newsroom TV series etc), their children Judy (Madeleine Harris) & Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) and the housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters - The Secret Garden, Educating Rita etc), Paddington (Ben Whishaw - Black Doves TV series, The Personal History of David Copperfield etc) was having the best time of his life. But when he received information from Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman - Secret Invasion mini series, Ron's Gone Wrong etc) about his aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton -  Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nuggest, The Crown TV series etc) whose health was decreasing, Paddington decided to visit her.

Together with the Browns, Paddington went to Peru where they experienced unexpected journey along with boat owners Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard etc) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous).

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Just like in the first and second movies, this sequel was also focusing on the family dynamics of the Browns and Paddington. But instead of having the settings in London, the whole family had a life changing experience in Peru. Although the adventure was real family friendly type (not the dangerous or sophisticated kind like Indiana Jones), but the journey itself was quite interesting and filled with some fun and comedic moments.

The plot was not too extraordinary and still had the element of humour, fun adventure and emotional moments. The strength of this movie was definitely the special effects to create Paddington and the other bears. It never ceased to amaze me how awesome the works of the visual effects team. They looked so realistic like we thought they were real. The voice characterization of Ben Whishaw was as good as before. It was also nice to see how they were able to keep most of the original cast in this third movie, leaving a deeper impression to complete the trilogy. Although Emily Mortimer took over from Sally Hawkins, I thought she did a great job here.

The movie was directed by Dougal Wilson in his directorial debut. For me personally his work was quite decent here. Although the adventure side was not spectacular, but he managed to deliver a wonderful and emotional ending that touched me and my wife. I liked how he showed a brief glimpse of the first film which gave greater impact cause we could see how much Paddington had gone through in his life. Btw, there was a rather humorous mid end-credit scene and a very brief post end credit scene.

For a family friendly movie, this one felt safe enough for all ages (classified as such in Indonesia). But sadly not a lot of audience were interested here. In fact my wife and I were the only two people seeing this film in the theater yesterday (felt like it was a private screening for us). Its Box Office performance particularly in England was pretty good so far which was not surprising considering the character is very popular there (after all Paddington was based on British children's books). It was also well received by critics in general. 

Overall this was a fun movie where you could watch the light adventure, combined with some humor, where you could enjoy the relationship of the adorable, soft spoken and polite bear with his family. The special effects were amazing, the story was quite OK with a wonderful ending to complete the trilogy. So if you like Paddington's adventure movies in the past, then you would not want to miss this. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars