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Adapting Richard and
Florence Atwaters’
1938 Newberry Medal
winning book
Mr. Popper’s
Penguins
has long been
overdue. I thought
that they’d do it in
the 90’s at some
point but it never
happened. Now it’s
been done thanks to
Jim Carrey, director
Mark Waters, and a
group of penguins
with the aid of some
top-notch CG
animation.
Mr.
Popper’s Penguins
puts Jim Carey in
the role of Mr.
Popper. He’s a real
estate mogul that
works for a large
firm in New York
City. His job is to
get people to sign
agreements to sell
their high-value
property. Popper is
a workaholic. He
looks forward to
Mondays, works at
night, and doesn’t
do much else. He
does however have
two children and an
ex-wife that he
still loves. The
kids and his ex
Amanda (Carla
Gugino) are somewhat
estranged towards
the former man of
their household
though. His work
habits have gotten
in the way of his
family time and he’s
taken them for
granted and let them
down, hence the
separation and the
hesitation.
Popper got his
habits from his
father. Rarely
seeing him growing
up, he grew to
resent him when he
was older. His
father was a
scientist/researcher/explorer
and he frequented
the North Pole and
was always miles
away from his son
while Popper was
growing up. While
working on a huge
deal for work,
Popper gets the news
that his father had
passed away. What he
left him was to be
delivered to him
later and what was
delivered ended up
being a Penguin.
Somehow one penguin
turns into six
penguins and they
all have their
unique personalities
and names. Popper
grows to love them
even though taking
care of them turns
out to be too much
to handle all at
once. Together the
penguins bring the
Popper’s back
together again and
the feel-good family
comedy culminates.
Obviously this is a
loose representation
of the book; it’s
been updated and
modernized to make
it more relatable in
the 21st
Century. The story
is fine here and
Carrey makes it work
with his style of
comedy.
Stylistically this
film is similar to
Liar
Liar,
another film that’s
been overlooked by
people other than
Carry enthusiasts.
It’s similar in
genre and it looks
similar as well.
Regardless of how
this looks or what
the plotline is,
Carrey drives this
movie from start to
finish. He’s funny
as ever but he’s not
over-the-top in this
role. There was
probably room for
some more jokes but
that would have
taken attention away
from the Penguins
and from the story.
There’s not a ton
wrong with
Mr.
Popper’s Penguins.
You would have liked
a better setup early
on in the film about
why Mr. Popper got
separated from his
family and/or why
the relationship
with his father got
deteriorated so
badly when he was
older but it is what
it is. It’s meant to
be a silly family
comedy for parents
and young children
and it does that and
it works out well.
As
far as extras with
Mr.
Poppers’s Penguins
there are some
fantastic animal
insight features on
penguins in addition
to a good feature on
the penguins in the
movie. There’s also
deleted scenes, an
audio commentary,
and an animated
feature that yes…
probably could have
been better.
Mr.
Popper’s Penguins
wasn’t amazing but
it wasn’t terrible
either. I’d put it
in the genre with
Jumangi,
Liar
Liar,
and other family
comedies. They’re
films that you’ll
watch and enjoy in
spots for years to
come, and
Mr.
Popper’s Penguins
is one of those
movies.
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