Paddington didn’t originally come from Peru. Michael Bond invented the bear as a result of witnessing Jewish refugee children arriving in London and London children being evacuated to the countryside during World War II, but he initially had Paddington coming from Africa. That changed when the publisher of A Bear Called Paddington (1958) pointed out to Bond that there were no bears in Africa. But South America has one: the spectacled bear, the only survivor of a genus now otherwise extinct.
So Paddington famously comes from Darkest Peru. It was a happy correction. Britain has little colonial past in South America: Paddington, arriving in London as a stowaway, symbolised the experience of immigration to Britain and the country’s benign reception of newcomers without any serious history of imperialism or slavery being involved. Paddington, cutely and safely belonging to an entirely different species, was readily adopted as ideally English with his perfect manners and good cheer, a sanctification consecrated over tea with the Queen for the Platinum Party in Buckingham Palace in June 2022, one of her last appearances before her death.
Paddington’s special status as an immigrant that nobody could help but find utterly endearing was worked quite hard in the brilliant 2014 film Paddington, written and directed by The Mighty Boosh creator Paul King and produced by the mogul of the Harry Potter movies, David Heyman, with the company Framestore making great use of advances in furry animation while Ben Whishaw voiced the creature irresistibly. There was a clear message here for children and adults: “In London everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in.” On every corner, a calypso band sung the Windrush anthem “London is the Place for Me”, while historical resonance was provided by Mr Gruber’s recollection of the Kindertransport. “This family needed this wee bear every bit as much as he needed you,” Mrs Bird (wonderful Julie Walters) firmly instructed Paddington’s adopters, the Browns.
Paddington 2 in 2017, with poor Paddington falsely imprisoned, was even better, with Hugh Grant at his best ever as nightmarish thespian Phoenix Buchanan. The film’s a total treat, hugely rewatchable. Where could the franchise go next? In 2022, the writer Adam Thomas, picked up the theme of immigration and suggested “future movies could emphasise Paddington’s connection to Black immigration history”.
Instead we have Paddington in Peru. In London, Paddington receives a letter from the Reverend Mother in charge of the Home for Retired Bears in Peru (Olivia Colman) saying that his Aunt Lucy is missing him unbearably. The whole Brown family, Judy and Jonathan now quite grown up, decide to accompany Paddington for one last adventure together.
At the Home, though, Aunt Lucy has disappeared and the Reverend Mother proves a bit odd (Colman enthusiastically parodying The Sound of Music). So they set off downriver in search of his aunt, in a boat helmed by rascally Captain Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas), urged on in his quest for the gold of El Dorado by five of his ancestors, from a raging conquistador to a female Swedish pilot, all played by Banderas.
Paddington in Peru, made in the UK using background footage shot in Peru and Colombia, is enjoyable enough (the sketch in which Paddington introduces a host of bear arrivals in London, all with their own station names, is not to be missed). But it is no match for its predecessors (a closing cameo from Hugh Grant returning as Phoenix Buchanan, planning a production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which he will play Goldilocks, only emphasises that). Although Paul King produces, the film is directed by Dougal Wilson, known previously for music videos and commercials, including the John Lewis Christmas adverts, and the film lacks King’s distinctive zaniness. Moreover, Sally Hawkins has, for some reason, not returned as Mrs Brown, being jarringly replaced by Emily Mortimer, who is nothing like so kooky or funny.
Worse, the film denies itself the great subject of Paddington, his reception in London, instead earnestly pursuing the dilemma of Paddington rediscovering his bearish roots and deciding what to do. He admits to “mixed feelings” and says though he’s part-London and part-Peru, he’s a whole lot of Brown. And yet the feel-good ethic of Paddington as the perfect immigrant, perfectly welcomed, is switched out for family loyalties across species – plus an exotic trip.
“Paddington in Peru” is in cinemas now
[See also: The myths of Blitz spirit]
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This article appears in the 07 Nov 2024 issue of the New Statesman, Trump takes America