Mrf. Popper’s Penguins
Jim Carrey, Captain Penguin, Nimrod Penguin
Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond
Directed by Mark Waters
Fox Home Entertainment 2011
Tom Popper (Jim Carrey) is a divorced, workaholic, business man who will stop at nothing to close a real estate deal and in doing so, has alienated his family. When his world explorer father passes way, Popper inherits not one but six penguins. Popper wants to get rid of the penguins, but when his son mistakenly thinks they are his birthday present, he chooses to keep them.
Caring for six penguins is no easy task, so Popper puts his heart into it when he sees how much his kids love them, and by the same token, becomes a kinder and more caring dad; even his ex-wife notices how the penguins bring out the best in him. The penguins help bring his ex-wife and kids back into Popper’s life, but trouble, the predictable family movie kind, soon arises when the zoo keeper wants to take the penguins to the zoo. The zoo keeper succeeds in kidnapping them and the movie ends with a caper-like scene where the whole Popper family goes to the zoo to break the six penguins out. Finally, the Poppers reunite with the penguins and become a family again.
The penguins steal the show in the movie and rightfully so. My kids loved the penguin scenes, especially the indoor winter playground Popper makes for his Antarctic guests. How they would love to come home and skate around the living room and slide down an iced staircase! They also got a kick out of the penguins’ farting, pooping, and biting skills! Jim Carrey is not overly annoying with his usual comedy schtick, so I was able to sit through the movie and enjoy it with my kids.
As for the movie itself, my grade-schoolers thought the movie was just okay; I thought it was a rather light and predictable movie.
Audrey Blair