PADDINGTON IN PERU

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens “a few bear years ago” in Peru. Cub Paddington tries to get an orange from a precariously-located branch. He falls into a ravine and is swept away by the current, but he is pulled out by Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) and is later adopted by her.

In the present day, Paddington (Ben Whishaw) has become an official British citizen and is writing a letter to Aunt Lucy, who is now living at the Home for Retired Bears in Peru. He catches her (and the viewers) up with the Brown family: Henry (Hugh Bonneville) has a new employer, Madison (Hayley Atwell), who challenges him to “embrace the risks” when it comes to his job. Mary (Emily Mortimer) has taken up painting and feels that the family is not as close as they once were. Judy (Madeleine Harris) is heading to university, which Mary is having a hard time adjusting to. Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) is using his inventive skills to mostly help make his life convenient so he can play video games. Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) is crossing things off her personal to-do list.

Paddington receives a letter from the Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman), who runs the Home for Retired Bears. She tells Paddington that Aunt Lucy has been acting rather strange lately due to her missing him. Paddington tells the Browns that he is worried for Aunt Lucy and wants to visit her. Mary sees a trip to Peru as a perfect opportunity for the family to bond again, while a reluctant Henry eventually comes around on the idea when he realizes it would help him “embrace the risks”.

Paddington goes to Mr. Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) shop to inform him of their trip. In the shop, Paddington notices a bear-shaped statue that causes him to feel uneasy.

The family sets off on their trip after informing Aunt Lucy, and the other nuns prepare for Paddington’s arrival (with a song). After taking in some of the Peruvian culture, the Browns arrive at the Home for Retired Bears, only to be told by Reverend Mother that Aunt Lucy has suddenly gone missing. All that was left behind were her glasses and a special bracelet that she wears, which Paddington puts on. He also finds a map that points out a location, Rumi Rock, which is where he believes Aunt Lucy might be found.

The Browns meet boat captain Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous), but when they mention Rumi Rock, Gina advises her father against it, fearing something dangerous ahead. However, Paddington appeals to them by pleading so that he can find Aunt Lucy. Hunter tells the Browns about his family’s history, while Henry tries to take pictures of his vacation to show off at work. In private, Hunter hallucinates that his ancestor, Gonzalo Caboto (also Banderas), is pressuring him to find Rumi Rock. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bird has stayed behind at the Home for Retired Bears but is having trouble contacting the family. The Reverend Mother suggests that nothing “suspicious” is involved in the home having electrical interference, but Mrs. Bird begins to keep an eye on her.

Over dinner, Hunter tells the family that Rumi Rock is said to be the entrance to El Dorado, the fabled lost city of gold. The only way in is with a special talisman, which happens to be attached to Aunt Lucy’s bracelet that Paddington is now wearing, but other explorers who have gone looking for it never returned alive due to their encounters with Los Espiritus Del Bosque (the spirits of the forest). While the Browns go to sleep, Gina asks her father to turn the boat around for fear that looking for El Dorado will doom him. He seems to agree and asks her to go outside and untie the rope, but Hunter moves the boat without Gina, to her anger. Since she was the one who knew how to steer the boat, Hunter gets knocked into the water by the boat’s mast.

The Browns wake up, unaware that their guides are missing. Paddington tries to find the Cabots but ends up steering the boat towards rocky waters. The family grabs life jackets and makes it off the boat as it capsizes. They end up lost in the jungle while Paddington hopes to lead them to Rumi Rock and potentially encounter Hunter and Gina there. The family ends up having to take shelter in a tree due to a storm. Paddington decides to go try to find help on his own but gets separated from the Browns.

Paddington sails down the river until he finds a giant statue similar to the one at Mr. Gruber’s shop, which has been haunting his dreams. Hunter comes out from behind the statue and joins Paddington. The bear accidentally sits on a spiky red plant and lets out a pained roar. He hears another roar, which he thinks is coming from Aunt Lucy since she told him as a cub to roar and she will roar back if he ever got lost. Paddington continues to roar and follows the sound.

Back at the home, Mrs. Bird follows the Reverend Mother to a secret hideout from behind the organ. She finds a room where the Reverend Mother is tracking the Browns, since she gave Mary a medal of St. Christopher that has a tracking device on it. The Reverend Mother noticed that the Browns have gone off-course, so she gets Mrs. Bird to join her as they fly towards their location.

In the morning, the Browns wake up to find that Paddington is gone, but they have reunited with Gina. She tells them that her ancestors have a history of “gold madness”, beginning with Gonzalo. He led his crew to starvation and exhaustion in search of riches, only to find nothing. His descendants (all played by Banderas) later suffered similar fates, dying in stupid ways in search for a treasure that never existed. Hunter abandoned Gina as a child to go after the treasure and only recently came back into her life, but she has feared he would meet the same fate as his ancestors.

Paddington and Hunter move along, with Hunter severing the bridge behind him so nobody can follow them. While Gina spots this, she and the Browns are found by Mrs. Bird and the Reverend Mother. Paddington and Hunter make it up to the ruins of an Incan temple, where the bear discovers that the roars he was hearing were just echoes of his own. The two find a slot that would allow the talisman on Aunt Lucy’s bracelet to open it, but when Hunter starts to go crazy, Paddington runs from him, and they both end up running from a boulder. Mrs. Bird tries to land the plane, but they get a block on the windshield. Henry gets past a huge tarantula to open the landing gear while Jonathan uses one of his inventions to clear the blockage, allowing them to make a bumpy but safe landing. Henry’s job manual flies out of the plane and hits Hunter in the groin.

As the Browns run to Paddington, the Reverend Mother emerges with Gina tied up and with an old musket, revealing herself as Hunter’s cousin Clarissa. She seemingly disappeared long ago but went off in search of the treasure herself. Clarissa orders Hunter to give up the talisman to let her enter El Dorado, but Hunter pulls on a rope that swings a branch to knock her out, which also makes his ancestors’ visions disappear since he has rejected their greed. The Browns then use the talisman and open the gates, where they are greeted by the Forest Spirits, which are just bears dressed in foliage.

El Dorado turns out to be an orange grove and sanctuary to bears, which is where Paddington originally came from. He sees Aunt Lucy and runs to hug her before she explains to him that the statue he’s been seeing was meant to guide lost bears home. Paddington meets his bear family and shows them how to make marmalade. The Browns believe that Paddington wants to stay, but he tells the Browns that they are his family and that he wants to return to London with them, which they are happy for.

After returning home, Paddington writes another letter to Aunt Lucy explaining what has happened since they returned. Clarissa was relocated to the arctic to become a real nun and forced to live with polar bears. Hunter and Gina continue to sail together. Henry was promoted at work after impressing Madison with his travel tales. Mary has begun working on a new art project. Jonathan has made more of an effort to leave his room by showing off his inventions at trade fairs. Judy has joined the school newspaper at her university. Mrs. Bird hosts a disco party for the nuns and retired bears. Paddington is later visited by his bear family, and he takes them on an adventure in London.

During the credits, Paddington and the bears visit Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant) in prison, now on friendly terms with each other. He pitches to them an idea of having them join him in a prison production of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” (with him playing Goldilocks). When Phoenix hears they found El Dorado, he is disappointed to see that the “gold” are just the oranges.

Paddington learns that his beloved Aunt Lucy is in distress at the Home for Retired Bears in Peru since she misses him. He gets the Brown family to join him on a trip to Peru, in part because Henry wants to take more risks for his job, and Mary thinks it will bring the family closer together. When they get to Peru, they are told by the Reverend Mother that Aunt Lucy has gone missing. Paddington finds a map among her possessions that point out a location, Rumi Rock.

The family joins boat captain Hunter Cabot and his daughter Gina as they guide them towards Rumi Rock, which is said to be the secret location of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. Hunter is haunted by visions of his ancestors, who all went mad in their search for treasure and all ended up meeting their deaths. Hunter abandons Gina when she tries to steer him away, but he ends up knocked off the boat. The Browns end up having to jump ship when the boat enters rocky waters.

Paddington gets separated from the Browns but finds Hunter and follows a roaring sound he thinks is coming from Aunt Lucy. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bird finds out the Reverend Mother has been tracking the Browns since she gave Mary a St. Christopher medal with a tracking device on it. They fly to recover the family and Gina, while Paddington and Hunter find Rumi Rock, but Paddington was only hearing the echoes of his own roars. Hunter then goes mad trying to get a talisman from Aunt Lucy's bracelet that Paddington is wearing since it will open the gates. After the family lands their plane, the Reverend Mother is revealed to be Hunter's cousin Clarissa, also a crazy treasure hunter who threatens Gina unless Hunter lets her into El Dorado. Hunter overcomes his greed to save Gina and knocks Clarissa out.

The Browns enter "El Dorado", which turns out to be an orange grove and sanctuary for bears. Aunt Lucy is there, as is Paddington's real bear family before he got lost and was found by Aunt Lucy. Paddington meets his family and helps them make marmalade, but he chooses to return to London with the Browns.