Movie Review: 'Mr. Popper's Penguins'

Seen on: June 11, 2011

The players: Director: Mark Waters, Writers: Sean Anders, John Morris, Cast: Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, CGI Penguins

Facts of interest: Based on a children’s novel of the same name by Richard and Florence Atwater.

The plot: Self-centered sales guy Popper (Carrey) has his life turned upside down when he receives a crate of six penguins.

Our thoughts: Popper (Jim Carrey), as he his know by everyone (including his own family), has a high-powered career as a real estate broker in New York City with a beautiful loft apartment overlooking Central Park. As the film opens, he’s at the top of his game, gearing up for the big high-profile business deal that will get him partnership at his firm.

He is also estranged from his family, because his self-centered, business first way of life has created quite a distance from his ex-wife, whom he still loves, and his children. Now, his father (a world explorer) has passed away, and he has left him with what eventually become six penguins that take over his life and turn it upside down. During that process, he learns the importance of love and family, and eventually, he becomes a better dad and person in general.

Okay, let’s play a little game: Take out real estate broker and replace with lawyer, take out penguins and replace with “the inability to lie," and what do you get? The 1997 comedy “Liar Liar”! Okay, replace real estate broker with TV reporter, replace penguins with “the power of God,” replace family with girlfriend, and yup, you've got 2003’s “Bruce Almighty”!

That’s right, the first problem with this film is that it’s beyond unoriginal! To the point that it would seem like there is a “Jim Carrey family comedy screenplay mad libs” that Hollywood is working with. There is nothing in the film that Jim Carrey hasn’t already done, and done much better before. Plus, given the similarities to the aforementioned movies, everything in this thing is utterly predictable! It’s hard to believe that this was originally a book before, given the similarities to all of Carrey’s former works.

Furthermore, we’re back to the old Jim Carrey, the one who, before branching out with some fine performances is films like “The Majestic” or “The Truman Show," spent two hours of screen time talking louder than necessary, and making endless silly faces for cheap laughs (which, by the way, just does not fit the profile of this “high-powered New York businessman”). In “Popper’s," this shtick has gotten extremely tiresome. There is nothing in his performance that remotely invests you in this man and his predicament. It’s all show and no substance.

Add to Carrey’s mugging, the penguins themselves, which are really only used as vehicles for stupid humor. They spend the majority of the film biting, pooping, squawking and making messes for, again, cheap laughs. By the time the predictable drama rolls around, you don’t really care, because no real connection between anything and anyone was ever established to begin with.

Of course, this is a children’s movie, so a fair amount of “show” or dumbing down is expected, but given the emotional complexity of all the Pixar films and many other family movies lately, these “pure fluff” films are now obsolete. They are insulting to the audience’s intelligence, and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” is no exception.

That said, the film did have some funny moments, and it's definitely good entertainment for kids. I took my 5-year-old to see it, and he liked it better than "Kung Fu Panda 2." Hey, he even wanted to see it again. Okay, he also said his favorite part was the penguins pooping, so I rest my case.

Freaky quote: "SQUAAAAWKKKK." - Loudey the Penguin

The final word: Young kids will enjoy the cute penguins and the obvious cheap humor, but there’s not much else there.

On the web: http://www.popperspenguins.com/

Article by Danny Alves