35/10
Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who is currently living in a Home for Retired Bears. An exciting adventure begins with the Brown family when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey. The director of the previous two films, Paul King, decided not to direct this installment. However, he did pitch the idea for a third film and was involved as an executive producer. In 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 a real pleasure and a disappointment. Since it is not about Paddington adjusting to life with his family in London or how a normal family adjusts to life with a bear, it loses its original charm and certainly the humor. It is just another jungle adventure movie… but with a bear. It has a different feel – more sentimental and noticeably less funny. Whereas the first two were funny to a decrepit old Marx Brothers fan like me, this one is definitely more of a family film, clearly aimed at children. I could say we need more of the Brown family and their neighbours….. I could also say we need Sally Hawkins, but why. We had all that in the first two, and since they were… dare I say, excellent, there was no point in copying them. So yes, it is different, at times terribly overly sentimental and nothing as funny, but it is still Paddington. Routine family fun instead of funny, quirky sweetness.