Mr. Popper's Penguins

On Saturday, I had the honor of attending an advanced screening of Mr. Popper's Penguins. Now I have never read the book in my life, but I am aware that the film is an extremely loose, contemporary adaptation with a setting in the present day rather than the 1930s in the book. So if you're a die-hard fan of the classic book, avoid this movie because they made so many changes to this new setting, it's insane. I am a Jim Carrey fan as well, which was the main reason I went to this film, but don't kill me for saying that I still have not seen Liar Liar, Ace Ventura, and The Mask yet. But those three are still on my watch list, though.

Jim Carrey plays Tom Popper, a successful New York City businessman who has put almost all of his life into his work life instead of family. One day he gets a phone call saying that his father has died, but he left him a gift behind. That gift is six gentoo penguins, and these penguins are going to help him realize that he has shunned out almost every opportunity he's had in life to appreciate the beauty you can experience if you take the time to do so. Once the penguins are brought into the public eye, though, Popper has to contend with a stern zoo keeper (Clark Gregg) who wants the penguins because he believes that Popper's house is not well-suited to take care of all of them.

Jim Carrey definitely carries this movie and saves it from being a complete disaster. His physical slapstick that has become well known in almost his whole career translates in a good enough manner to provide so decent moments of comedy. He may be very grounded in his limits for what he can and can't do, but watching Carrey go crazy on screen is always good enough for me. The supporting cast's performances are really nothing special, but it was pretty cool to see Clark Gregg go on the villain side for once, when he's not playing SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson in the MARVEL films building up to The Avengers. However, the penguins I believe are the weakest part of the film. The jokes involving the penguins are heavily centered on young children and parents who like to see their kids laugh. I'm 17 so I thought most of the jokes were very juvenile at some times, especially a running joke they carry on with one of the penguins who goes by the name of Stinky. In addition, you'll be able to tell in every scene involving the penguins when they're real or CGI, especially in the final climactic sequence of the film.

Overall, if you've seen the trailers to this film, you pretty much know what you're going to get out it. This movie could have been a Razzie nominee in several categories, but Jim Carrey is there to save it from going in that direction. I can say that I mildly enjoyed most of this movie, but I'll probably forget sometime this week.

Light comedy at its best!

The movie started off on a very Light note as if there wasn't much to expect from until all the penguins arrived. The environment changed. Things around turned. It was the biggest tent pole a light movie could have had. Nimrod was my favorite. I am out of words to describe his curious and merry attitude. Jim wasn't at his best, wasn't going through the best of his times either despite having all-time best comedies and performances to his name. Still, he managed to deliver a spectacular performance. Two characters weren't agreat, his wife and the hotel owner.

I enjoyed, lqughed through out. It was quite a funny, adventurous journey, with the latter in bits and pieces.

Mr Popper's Penguins is a good movie with a reasonably well developed storyline and a talented cast. It's an enjoyable family film that had many funny moments and is also quite sweet, it easily could have been a disaster, but I think Jim Carrey did a great job of making it watchable, he may have only done this for a pay check but he looked like he was having fun and really became this character. However, It certainly has many flaws, it throws far too much conflict and issues at Mr. Popper, a divorce, a difficult job and kids who hate him, they seemed like too much problems to give its audience for a ninety minute film, and adding the penguins didn't feel as significant because of the real life struggles that faced him. I found Ophelia Lovibond's performance unbearable, Pippi was a very annoying character, her constant use of words beginning with p wasn't funny to begin with, and they just kept it coming. It has its flaws, but Mr. Popper's Penguins is still a fun film that I would recommend to a family if you ever see it on television and have some time to kill.

Mr Popper gets sent six penguins, which makes the man's life a lot more difficult, although he starts to grow fond of them when he discovers the joy it brings his children.

I can't believe more adults didn't defend this movie. I'm 35 and I love it. It's fun, funny, cute and sweet. It's not ground breaking or overly deep but it's entertaining. People suck ;p

Me and my wife took our 3 kids to this one, we wanted to enjoy a nice Saturday afternoon together watching a cute family flick, and this movie delivered what we were expecting. our kids laughed and had a lot of fun, and i found myself enjoying most parts of it.

Story is very familiar, about a business man " Carrey " who is always busy and away from his kids, then suddenly he inherits penguins that changes him and his life,..i guess you sort of know from here where the story is headed. a very simple, and might sound silly story, but executed in a very good manner, that made it better than your average family movie. Carrey was funny as always, and added a lot to the over all enjoyment of the film.

It is a family movie, starring Jim Carrey with penguins and is rated PG, what really are you expecting ? it is exactly what you would expect from this type of film. Just grab your loved ones, head to the theaters, and enjoy this movie for what it is, don't take it seriously, and you will have a great time !!