Film Reviews

Mr Popper's Penguins

• Rating:
• Director: Mark Waters
• Starring: Angela Lansbury
• Details: US/94mins G

Having recently taken a serious risk with his career with the brave and criminally underrated I Love You, Phillip Morris, Jim Carrey has moved back to far safer mugging-for-laughs territory with this inoffensive, but bland kiddie flick. When clearly talented guys like Carrey or Adam Sandler (he really is... Watch Funny People or Punch-Drunk Love) have films bomb every time they attempt to make something moderately non-mainstream, you can't really blame them for returning to the generic stuff - which is exactly what 'Penguins' is.
Carrey is a divorced father Thomas Popper who inexplicably has a penguin turn up in a crate on his doorstep after his explorer father buys the farm. Soon, more and more arrive until eventually he has more than one simple estate agent can handle; planning to donate them to a local zoo, his mind soon changes when his kids fall in love with the monogamous birds.
While well enough handled (for what it is) by Mean Girls director Waters, unless you read the book as a child and are interested in what a modern adaptation looks like then it's probably best avoiding. Carrey does his best, almost popping a vein in his forehead attempting to pillage laughs, but it was always going to be a one gag film. The comedian is in Liar Liar mode, and it's a shtick older audience members have seen too many times before - no matter how hard Carrey tries to convince otherwise.
The real redeeming feature for some will be the cute factor, but unless penguins are dancing and being voiced by A-list stars, they're just not really that cute. That said, there are various slapstick scenarios that will nonetheless amuse the nippers while you play with your Iphone apps.
Carrey tries, and some the CGI in seamless; but unless you're too small to ride a rollercoaster, this is best off avoiding.

Review by Mike Sheridan