Paddington in Peru is pleasant, underachieving nonsense

If you’re as much a fan of writer-director Paul King’s two Paddington movies as I am, you may think of them often while watching this threequel, from first-time feature director Dougal Wilson. Partly, perhaps, because you might just think of them often in general — but also because this film, while charting its own path in obvious respects, clearly wants to remind you of its brilliant predecessors (among many other films, from The African Queen to Raiders of the Lost Ark). In fact, among the threequel’s best moments is a must-see mid-credits sequence returning us directly to the inspired lunacy of Paddington 2.

The joy of the first two films lies partly in their celebration of decency, empathy, and welcome, along with their gentle critique of parsimony and tribalism. Along with Paddington himself, voiced with irresistible sincerity by Ben Wishaw, the other great hero of King’s films is Mrs. Brown, played by Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) as a quirky, creative soul deeply attuned to the needs of others. The kind of person, in fact, who is unable to pass by a displaced bear in a blue duffle coat and red bush hat on a platform at London Paddington station without asking what their responsibility is in the face of his distress. As Mr. Brown, Hugh Bonneville makes a slightly more reluctant hero, more conventional and risk-averse — a risk analyst, in fact — but, once moved to the correct course of action, a force to be reckoned with.