Mr. Popper's Penguins

"Dear Lord, thank you for the food we are about to eat. Please use your mighty power, to stop the melting of the polar ice caps. Amen."

Tom Popper (Carrey) is a workaholic whose children avoid spending time with him.  And he has a strained relationship with his explorer father.  After his father dies, Tom receives a box containing a live penguin.  He tries to return the penguin, but the moving company gets confused and sends 5 more penguins.  His children, Billy (Perry Cotton), and Amanda (Gugino) fall in love with the penguins and name them: the Captain, Bitey, Stinky, Lovey, Loudy and Nimrod.

Over time Tom grows accustomed to his feathered roommates.  He lowers the temperature in the apartment and buys lots of fresh fish.  But his nosy neighbor, Kent (David Krumholtz), and a snooty zookeeper, Nat Jones (Gregg) threaten to ruin the fun.  Can Tom keep the penguins, spend quality time with his kids, and convince Mrs. Van Gundy (Lansbury) to sell her property so he can become a partner at his real estate company?


As a child I loved the book Mr. Popper's Penguins.  We read the book many times and I even remember hearing it "Reading Rainbow."  It was a cute story that won the Newberry Award in 1939 and the Young Reader's Choice Award in 1940, so obviously I was not the only one that loved it.

I was nervous about a film adaptation, especially with Jim Carrey in the lead (I enjoy his movies, but I had higher expectations for this story).  The trailers were funny, so I had some hope.  The film received good buzz and so I decided to give it a shot.

Carrey proves that he is still funny after all these years, and give a heartwarming performance.  The penguins are cute (seriously, who doesn't like penguins).  Although they changed the story a bit, it worked for the film.  And I loved the dance sequence:

It's not the greatest movie ever, or the greatest adaptation of a beloved children's story, but it was still cute.

Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) 94 minutes
Director: Mark Waters
Starring: Jim Carrey as Tom Popper
Carla Gugino as Amanda
Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Van Gundy
Ophelia Lovibond as Pippi
Madeline Carroll as Janie Popper
Clark Gregg as Nat Jones
Maxwell Perry Cotton as Billy Popper