Paddington in Peru (2024 | United Kingdom | 106 minutes | Dougal Wilson)

I don’t remember much from my single-digit years, but I do remember having a fondness for Paddington Bear somewhere around first or second grade. I found him easily loveable and lacking any sense of maliciousness. When “they” started putting out live action Paddington movies a decade ago, I realized I still do. While I thought the “Paddington 2 is better than Citizen Kane” meme silly and mildly blasphemous, the three Paddington movies might be my favorite trilogy in film. (At least when I’m pretending The Godfather Part 3 never happened).

Paddington in Peru is the third Paddington film and it comes out this weekend. It’s probably the series’ third best but that shouldn’t be too much of a knock because it’s charming and fun in its own way.

After beginning with an Indiana Jones-esque action sequence, we learn that Paddington is now officially a British citizen. He still has the same love for marmalade sandwiches, so much that he always seems to have one under his hat. There’s an incredibly funny scene where the hero of the story tries to take a passport photo in a booth that doesn’t go according to plan. Can you call it “physical comedy” if it’s done with CGI?

Still living with the Brown family (though this time around, Mrs. Brown looks less like Sally Hawkins and more like Emily Mortimer), Paddington gets word from the Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman) that his beloved Aunt Lucy, his closest living family member, misses him terribly. The Reverend Mother is a nun who runs a Peruvian retirement home for bears. She may, however, have some malicious intent.

The entire Brown family treks to South America so Paddington can reunite with Aunt Lucy. But something is amiss, and Aunt Lucy goes missing. The movie turns into an adventure finding her, taking them to a lost city that only bears can find. The lost city promises untold riches, unknown to Paddington and rest of the Brown family, but known to a greedy bunch of Peruvians whose craving for wealth makes them delirious. This includes a nautical tour guide, Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas, who I’ve become a big fan of since his masterpiece with director Pedro Almodóvar, Pain & Glory).

The movie has few unpredictable moments, but I found that familiarity comforting. I cannot seem to mention “Paddington” without using the adjective loveable but it’s apt. It’s, I think, a movie made for families but easily enjoyed by at least one childless gen Xer.

The Paddington series has been such a welcome part of cinema over the past 10+ years. It’s like a warm hug and the tastiest marmalade sandwich in film form.

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Paddington in Peru opens in theaters today, February 14.