Paddington tries to make toffee, Paddington makes a mess cleaning the chimney, Paddington investigates the disappearance of Mr Browns prizemarrow. Such are the types of adventure that Paddington creator Michael Bond wrote for his fuzzy creation. The Bond books are filled with stories of the bear as an unwitting agent of chaos in small, domestic English settings.In practically every instance of Bonds stories, Paddington would enter an ordinary and often genteel situation meeting a vacuum cleaner salesman, for instance, or attending a ballet and despite his unfailing politeness, hed get into a royal mess about which everyone would have a good-natured laugh. The visual comedy of a bear testing a neighbours garden hammock or riding a horse at a local gymkhana a whimsically unlikely element placed into familiar, everyday surroundings was the gag.The first two of StudioCanals Paddington movies, directed by Paul King, understood that. Many of the first two films funniest and most memorable sequences, from the barber shop disaster to the Browns bathroom flood, were skits straight out of Bonds books. In each, Paddington himself was the disrupting factor. Alongside star villainous turns by Hollywoods Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, with ramped-up action sequences on runaway trains or the rooftops of London landmarks, the films kept that essential foreign element in everyday setting format.Then came Paddington in Peru, the third film in the series, based on an idea by original director and writer Paul King and Simon Farnaby, that the Ben Whishaw-voiced bear should visit his homeland. They like the idea of a circular feeling to the story, with Paddington returning to the origins established in the first film, the latest films director Dougal Wilson told Den of Geek in November 2024.We are continuing the themes of home and being an immigrant and coming back to where you are officially from and how you feel when you get there.Lovely stuff. Paddingtons immigrant story (entirely fitting with Bonds original character, which was inspired by the journeys of refugees and WWII evacuees) and the films messages about tolerance and belonging are part of their magic.What the premise of Paddington in Peru ignores though, is that this character and these jokes work precisely because Paddington isnt in Peru. Theres no gag intrinsic to a bear being in a wild; thats where they live.Out now in the US and Canada after a staggered international release, Paddington in Peru tells the story of the Brown family travelling to South America to visit Paddingtons Aunt Lucy. There, they uncover a mystery that involves a perilous river journey, an ancient tribe, and centuries-old hidden treasure. Its a larger-than-life romp built around fairground-style thrills, and a very nice family film quite possibly the kind of movie people anticipated when StudioCanals CGI Paddington project was first announced. Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas are good value in in it, as Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas tend to be.Paddington in Peru, however, isnt as funny as the first two films. Its sweet and silly, but few could argue that any of its sequences are comedic standouts. Its missing the precision-engineered Buster Keaton-style comic timing of say, Paddington 2s window cleaning sequence. What its really missing though, is that vital clash of bear-meets-non-bear-world.The third movie was a box office hit, and, perhaps thanks to the work of the first two films, opened bigger in the UK than either of them. That makes a fourth film inevitable, and indeed, StudioCanals deputy CEO Anna Marsh announced one last week: There will be a fourth film, says Marsh. Were thinking about the next movies and were working on a new TV series as well as the stage show musical with Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley.Note the plural movies. While theyre making money like this, Paddington pictures are clearly going nowhere. A plea then, if its not already too late to make it: next time, leave the bear in London. Make Paddington Bonds unwitting agent of chaos and hapless messer-up of everyday situations. Make his golden heart in the body of a wild beast once again shine a light on humanitys bigotry and its brilliance. For Paddington 4, please keep his paws on the ground.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Paddington in Peru: Lost in the Jungle is out now in the US and Canada, and on home release in the UK.