Paddington in Peru — A Story of Origin, Family & the Pull of Home
What does it mean to belong in more than one place?
To love more than one family?
To feel whole in two worlds at once?
Paddington Bear has always carried these questions quietly beneath his marmalade-covered sweetness, but Paddington in Peru brings them forward with new emotional weight. It is a story about home, identity, and what it means to return to the place where your life began — even when you’ve grown roots in a new one.
For adoptees, this film resonates deeply.
It isn’t just a joyful adventure.
It’s an origin story.
A reunion story.
A story about holding love in multiple directions.
A Journey Back to Where It Started
In Paddington in Peru, the Brown family travels with Paddington to visit Aunt Lucy — the bear who raised him before he found his family in London. For adoptees, this storyline reflects something many feel but rarely see represented:
The desire to go back.
To see where your story began.
To understand what came before memory.
Paddington’s longing isn’t framed as disloyalty, confusion, or conflict.
It’s curiosity — and love.
That matters.
Reunion isn't presented as an erasure of his adoptive family, but as a continuation of his narrative, a widening of belonging rather than a narrowing of it.
Found Family & First Family Coexist
Paddington’s story has always involved two homes — one that raised him, and one that found him.
Aunt Lucy is his origin: the one who cared for him first.
The Browns are his present: the family who embraced him fully.
The film honors both.
There is no competitive framing. No demand that Paddington choose. Instead, what unfolds is a truth many adoptees know intuitively:
Family does not cancel out. It expands.
Aunt Lucy’s love doesn’t diminish the love the Browns have for Paddington — and the Browns’ presence doesn't replace his connection to Peru.
It’s both/and.
It always has been.
Searching For What We Carry Inside
Part of Paddington’s journey is not just about finding Aunt Lucy — it's about finding himself.
Peru represents history, culture, memory, and the beginning of his story. London represents belonging, safety, and his chosen family. When he stands between both worlds, he is not lost — he is whole.
For adoptees, this film mirrors the inner navigation of identity:
Where do I come from?
Where do I belong?
How do I honor all parts of myself?
Paddington doesn’t suppress the pull toward his origins.
He follows it.
With family beside him — not instead of them.
That is a profound message for adoptees and adoptive families alike.
Belonging Is Not Singular — It’s Woven
At its heart, Paddington in Peru is a story about weaving — past into present, roots into branches, origin into identity. The film shows that home isn’t always one place. Sometimes it’s two. Sometimes it’s many.
And for adoptees, belonging is built from multiple truths:
Where we come from
Who raised us
What we learn
Who we become
Paddington doesn’t return to Peru to replace London.
He returns to remember.
To reclaim.
To connect.
He belongs not because he chooses a single home, but because he holds space for more than one. As an adoptee, I know this is easier said than done, but certainly something for us all to strive for.
