Ten years after Paul King first brought our favorite Peruvian bear to the big screen, Paddington remains a beloved option for children of all ages (and adults, if we’re being honest). Following the 2017 sequel, King chose to move on, and now Dougal Wilson will make his feature directorial debut when the threequel Paddington in Peru hits the 2025 movie calendar on Valentine’s Day. Get those marmalade sandwiches ready, because it’s time to see what critics are saying about the upcoming kids movie.
Paddington 3 features a stellar cast, with Ben Whishaw back as the voice of the beloved bear. Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters and others also return, with Antonio Banderas making his franchise debut, along with Olivia Colman and Emily Mortimer, who will take over the role of Mary Brown from Sally Hawkins. Without further ado, let’s hand it over to the critics. In CinemaBlend’s review of Paddington in Peru, Sarah El-Mahmoud was left feeling warm and fuzzy, rating the movie 4 out of 5 stars. She says:
Paddington In Peru is not a major departure from the franchise or anything aside from a very notable setting switch-up and does very much stick to a formula of what has worked for the series thus far. But, hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and Paddington In Peru gave me all the warm and fuzzy feelings I was looking for from his return. Yes, I was crying in the best way by the end after laughing out loud at various points throughout.
Nick Schager of the Daily Beast calls Paddington 3 a “triumph of a family movie,” singling out Olivia Colman in her role as the Reverend Mother. At a time when the world feels so unkind, this cheery and polite British bear is the hero we need, Schager says, continuing:
Despite its rambunctious commotion, Paddington in Peru never loses sight of its hero’s inherent goodness, such that its finale hinges on the bear giving a ‘hard stare’ to a conflicted adversary in order to remind them to have manners, be kind, and value their real treasure. Wilson’s sequel may be slightly less imaginative than 2017’s critically acclaimed Paddington 2 but it’s just as upbeat and compassionate, championing the virtues of selflessness, altruism, generosity, and togetherness via a rollicking saga that recognizes that life isn’t static and yet one’s feelings about family and friends are often steadfast.
Ross McIndoe of Slant gives the movie 3 out of 4 stars, noting that even though Dougal Wilson catapults these familiar characters across the globe in the first Paul King-less adventure, the series has “never felt more at home in its own furry skin than it does here." McIndoe writes:
Like its predecessors, Paddington in Peru’s preference for practical effects serves it well, lending a tactile quality to our hero’s world; the film does a tremendous job of blending the CGI bear into his live-action surroundings, from him sitting in a cozy living room back in London to tumbling through Peru’s dense, green trees. Visually, Wilson picks up where King left off with an aesthetic that’s essentially Wes Anderson-lite—lots of flat, fussily composed frames colored with the vivid shades of a child’s picture book. Characters occasionally speak directly into the camera, and there’s even one scene in which the Brown household is rendered as a dollhouse with the front section removed. This is a film that wears its inspiration on its neatly pressed sleeves.
Guy Lodge of Variety agrees Paddington in Peru is suitably bright and busy, but where Paul King and Simon Farnaby’s movies were offbeat in a way that won over as many adults as it did children, the threequel is more conventional children’s programming. The critic says:
Paddington in Peru is, as any Paddington adventure should be, fast and buoyant and disarmingly sunny in a way that viewers who weren’t alive — or at least of cinemagoing age — for the 2017 release of Paddington 2 will lap up. They’re certainly unlikely to remember or care that the new film’s benevolent messages regarding immigrant identity and inclusive family values are wholly recycled from the previous films. They bear repeating anyway. And if the jokes aren’t as ornately, absurdly and hilariously involved as King and Farnaby’s best, the beaming, passive-aggressive villainy of Olivia Colman in a nun’s habit provides some compensation.
Matt Schimkowitz of AV Club also bumps slightly on the changing of the Paddington guard, as the third movie struggles to find organic mishaps for the titular bear, and there’s never much for the Browns to do. This batch of marmalade might have too much sugar and not enough fruit, Schimkowitz writes, but Paddington in Peru is still a satisfying bite. The critic grades it a C+ and says:
While Paddington In Peru pales in comparison to his first two outings, the lead character still commands a great deal of goodwill. Paddington is one of the most successful CGI creations ever. Few collections of ones and zeroes provoke as much emotion. Given life by Whishaw, in another masterclass of voice acting, Paddington’s gentle growl is the foundation upon which the film rests—and that foundation is as hard as his stare. However, Paddington still needs a counterbalance, and here, it takes two great actors to fill the spot left by the second film’s Hugh Grant.
Overall, critics are definitely recommending that families get their tickets to this dose of good cheer, though they might not all agree on how Paddington 3 stands up to its predecessors. The movie has accumulated a Certified Fresh 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is great news for those who have been waiting for this day. Paddington in Peru opens in theaters Friday, February 14.
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