Paddington in Peru

image for Paddington in Peru

Short takes

Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 7 (themes, violence, scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Paddington in Peru
  • a review of Paddington in Peru completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 24 December 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not suitable due to themes, violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 5–7 Parental guidance recommended due to themes and violence.
Children aged 8 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Paddington in Peru
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 106 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Things have changed in the Brown household – Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) spends all his time gaming in his room, Judy (Madeleine Harris) is heading off to college, Henry (Hugh Bonneville) has a new boss who does not believe in risk aversion and is encouraging her team to seek out challenging and dangerous activities, while Mary (Emily Mortimer) is trying to get used to the fact that she has more free time and that her family is going in so many different directions. When Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman), the head nun at a retirement home for bears, writes to Paddington (voice of Ben Wishaw) about the worrying behaviour of his Aunt Lucy (voice of Imelda Staunton), Paddington and the Browns head to Peru for a visit. Upon arrival, they discover that Aunt Lucy is missing somewhere in the Amazon jungle. Setting off to find her, they enlist the help of Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) the captain of a small river boat, and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous), to guide them to Roomy Rock, an ancient Incan stone formation where they hope to find Aunt Lucy. Unfortunately for them Hunter Cabot has ‘Gold Madness’, a curse that has haunted his family for generations. Believing that Paddington will lead him to El Dorado, Hunter ditches his daughter and loses the rest of the Brown family, using Paddington for his own purposes. Paddington’s unwavering belief that he will find his Aunt Lucy, despite all the setbacks he faces, leads him to discover his origins, learn the truth about El Dorado and demonstrate to others that family is the greatest treasure a person can possess.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Greed; Curses; Magical protectors; Family disintegration; Separation from family.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Paddington, as a cub, falls off a tree branch into a raging river and is carried far downstream.
  • It is mentioned that everyone who searches for El Dorado dies.
  • Paddington repeatedly falls out of a hammock and, in the end, gets himself irrevocably tangled inside of one.
  • Captain Cabot is knocked overboard by a sail.
  • The Brown family are sent down a river full of rapids. The boat crashes against the rocks, flips over and then sinks as they cling to debris.
  • A piranha bites Paddington on the nose.
  • As the Brown family realise that they are lost in the jungle, Judy asks: “How long until we eat each other?”
  • Paddington falls through the jungle canopy into the river.
  • The relatives of Captain Cabot are shown dying in a variety of ways: a plane crash, an explosion, drowning in quicksand etc.
  • A character, referring to Paddington, says: “No, we can’t eat him yet.”
  • Captain Cabot repeatedly chants: “Follow the bear, find the gold, eat the bear.”
  • One of Captain Cabot’s ancestors slaps him repeatedly in the face.
  • Captain Cabot shoves Paddington roughly to the ground.
  • Paddington and Captain Cabot are chased by a large boulder that nearly crushes them on multiple occasions.
  • Paddington falls off a cliff and is nearly crushed by a rock.
  • Paddington is nearly crushed by a wall falling on top of him.
  • Captain Cabot is hit in the stomach by a huge Risk Manual and Paddington nearly falls off a cliff.
  • Reverend Mother holds Gina and the Brown family at gunpoint.
  • Reverend Mother is knocked out with a big branch.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • There are ‘forest spirits’ – characters covered in trees and vines, that give the impression of being menacing and scary but who, later on, turn out to be nice. Reverend Mother clearly fears them and indicates a drawing on her wall depicting a young girl surrounded by sinister-looking creatures of the jungle. The Brown family is clearly scared when they first encounter these creatures.
  • A bear statue suddenly develops a mouth and his roar momentarily transports Paddington to Peru.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • While not scary, Gina tells how her father left her when she was 5 years old to find gold and how she always hoped that he would return. He came back as she turned 18 and Gina thought they could finally be a family. She is very angry and upset when she realises that her father has abandoned her once again, as well as when he appears to be willing to trade her life for access to gold.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Henry notes that his wife thinks Captain Cabot is handsome.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Captain Cabot lifts up his shirt to reveal a tattoo on his chest which, though audiences don’t see, causes characters to shield their eyes and look away in discomfort.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Captain Cabot admits to getting a tattoo as the result of a drunken night in Cuzco.
  • Nuns appear to be drinking during a disco party.
  • A champagne accidentally pops open when Paddington falls into an icebox full of alcoholic beverages.
  • The Brown family search a box labelled ‘emergency supplies’, only to find martini glasses and bottles of alcohol.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Idiot
  • Stupid
  • Mentiroso (Liar in Spanish).

In a nutshell

Paddington in Peru is a fun-filled fantasy adventure about finding your place and following your heart. This family film is best suited to audiences over the age of 7.

The main messages from this movie are to have faith in yourself and in those you love; to be as a light in the darkness guiding those who cannot find their way; and that even if you have mixed up feelings about where you belong, you can find yourself in what you search for.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Courage
  • Integrity
  • Respect
  • Kindness
  • Determination
  • Faith.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of family and of finding (and maintaining) connections with those you love.