Would a sextet of CGI penguins leave their live-action counterparts in the dust? Would this be another nail in the career of Jim Carrey? Or would the world’s most underrated and, not coincidentally, my personal favourite actress, Carlo Gugino, save the day and Carrey’s bacon in the process?
I can’t say I was overly curious to find out the answer to any of the above questions relating to Mark Waters’ adaptation of Richard and Florence Atwater’s 1938 children’s classic. With memories of better days still close at hand on my shelves The Truman Show for Carrey, and countless titles for Ms. Gugino I felt certain of emerging from this potential train-wreck disappointed.
Carrey is Tom Popper, a property development nearing full partnership at his prestigious firm. His superiors, a trio of grumpy old men, are set to etch Tom’s name on the company’s stationary if only he can negotiate a final hurdle: talk a very wealthy and notoriously prickly old lady, Mrs. Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury), into signing over her Central Park location to them so that they can do the right thing by society and build a skyscraper over the grave a million memories clinging irritatingly to the place.
The only trouble is Tom’s subsequent attempts to concentrate on Mrs. Van Gundy are sidetracked by a troublesome gift from his globe-trotting explorer father who was absent for much of Tom’s life and is now revealed to have passed away by an attorney. Tom receives his father’s gift willingly, but the penguin who emerges from the crate is not alone: five compadres, all with declarative traits, are along for the ride.
Soon Tom is forced to adapt his ritzy, two story apartment into a winter wonderland to placate his children who live with his ex-wife Amanda (Gugino) and think the birds are a birthday present. At the same time a New York zoo expert (Clark Gregg), alerted to their presence by Tom himself, becomes the obligatory bad guy trying to steal them once Tom irealises he’ll need to hold on to them a little longer than he hoped.
The penguins are not just makeshift gifts after all, but instead the possible means of restoring the family unit to its former glory. Could love and the respect of his kids actually be more important than making fully fledged partner and raking in the millions?
Simplistic though it may be, Mr. Popper’s Penguins is surprisingly amiable, wholesome fun that all the family will be able to endure without (a) walking out in a humiliating lump at the midway point, or (b) killing one another upon returning home for the dire choice forced upon one or more family members.
That isn’t to suggest that Carrey will reflect upon the project in old age with great fondness for his formerly manic persona has been reduced to a shadow of its former self here, especially when priming himself to be defecated upon by a CGI penguin for cheap laughs. Creative castration this may be, but a trickle of genuine laughs prevented me from alighting in the Land of Nod.
And yes, a certain individual did occasionally shine a light by proceedings, thus, in my estimation, saving more than one person’s bacon in the process. It’s easy to pour derision like volcanic lava all over an easy target such as this, but I’m willing to admit I enjoyed whole ten minute stretches of Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
I say:
In the scheme of things, only a minor embarrassment for Carrey, I suppose, for there’s always The Grinch and The Number 23 to consider.
See it for:
Ms. Gugino of course that was my excuse. But if you need further encouragement, how about the wholesome decency on display and the sight of Angela Lansbury still overacting badly at age 85, God bless her.
For more movies like Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011) visit Hurawatch.
Also watch: