Paddington in Paddington In Peru.

Although there are still a few weeks before most kids get their much anticipated Spring breaks, another “family-friendly” franchise flick arrives which hopes to give a bit of warmth to the chilly last weeks of Winter. Now December, and 2024, finished up with two such films, Mufasa: The Lion King which is a rare sequel/prequel in Disney’s series, and another adventure of the video game superstar, Sonic The Hedgehog 3. Like the latter, this new release is the third outing, and it also mixes a CGI-animated character in a live-action world. However, it also shares its origins with the current (for the last two weeks) box office champ Dog Man, which is based on a beloved series of children’s books. Now can the filmmakers score a rare “hat trick’ as the first sequel is so admired that it was ‘name-checked” at the end...