Beloved bear's new adventure is warm and fuzzy to the bootstraps

But this time around, the polite and clumsy brown bear spends most of his time in his native Peru.

Paddington in Peru - the third film in the series, with Dougal Wilson replacing Paul King as director - is an utter delight.

It's like dunking your scotch finger in your English breakfast tea for the right amount of time. Like warm scones fresh out the oven. Like a healthy slathering of orange marmalade.

There are few films franchises that are as purely delightful as Paddington.

This third entry is no exception. Aside from the director change, Sally Hawkins has also been swapped out for Emily Mortimer as mum Mary Brown, but she has the right energy to match the rest of the family, so the transition is seamless.

For this adventure, Paddington - a newly minted official British citizen with his own passport - gets a worrying letter from the Home for Retired Bears in darkest Peru concerning the health of his beloved Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton).

So the whole family, keen to travel together before eldest child Judy moves on to university, decides to pack their things and join Paddington on a voyage to his country of birth.

Once there, they're greeted by the nun in charge of the facility, Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman, who is, of course, perfection), who says Aunt Lucy has gone missing in the Amazon.

So the Browns set off to find her, hopping aboard the boat of Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) in search of a particular landmark they believe the older bear is looking for.

But there's more to Hunter than there seems - he's the descendant of a long line of gold seekers, and he's tormented by visions of his ancestors (all of whom are played by Banderas, making for some amusing comic moments).

The film is much more of a traditional adventure than its predecessors and pays homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark in one of its key action sequences.

That's not the only film that gets the homage treatment either, with crowd-pleasing nods to The Sound of Music and Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill Jr.

But the star of the film is always the polite and curious little bear. Ben Whishaw's fantastic voice work brings Paddington to life as a fully realised being. It's impossible to imagine another performer doing a better job or a more charming CGI bear than Paddington Brown. There's a moment towards the end of the film that might even bring an amenable viewer to tears.

With great themes of found family, redemption, bravery and forgiveness, Paddington in Peru is really everything you could want from a family film.

In most other franchises, a film of this quality would easily be the stand-out of the bunch, but Paddington and Paddington 2 are also pieces of cinematic perfection.

It's hard to go past the original as the best, and - as The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent professes frequently - the first sequel is also moving and joyful.

But perhaps Paddington in Peru squeezes into second place. Or maybe it's just so good to be treated to another of these films that recency bias is creeping in.

Don't leave the cinema as soon as the credits roll if you don't want to miss a thoroughly enjoyable mid-credit sequence featuring someone from Paddington's past adventures. It's not as though you needed any more reason to be utterly delighted by the film, but this end sequence is, again, a distillation of pure joy.

Paddington in Peru is the perfect film to watch with the family (or by yourself, whatever floats your boat) this summer.