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Mr. Popper's Penguins

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Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)

June. 17,2011
|
6
|
PG
| Comedy Family
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Jim Carrey stars as Tom Popper, a successful businessman who’s clueless when it comes to the really important things in life...until he inherits six “adorable” penguins, each with its own unique personality. Soon Tom’s rambunctious roommates turn his swank New York apartment into a snowy winter wonderland — and the rest of his world upside-down.

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ShangLuda
2011/06/17

Admirable film.

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Dynamixor
2011/06/18

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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Nicole
2011/06/19

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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Marva
2011/06/20

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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pyrocitor
2011/06/21

How tolerant are you, dear viewer? You may wish for a light, breezy, nostalgic callback to the days when animal comedies proliferated (the 90s), propelled by everyone's favourite rubber-faced funny man (also from the 90s). You'd tolerate a lot for a return to those halcyon days, you beam. A nice, wholesome film for your children to delight to, to fill the household with a glow as heartwarming as the setting is chilly. You can practically hear Morgan Freeman's dulcet tones plucking your heartstrings. Don't worry - there's a gag about him in here too. They've got your back. But reflect for a moment. Are you really tolerant enough to stomach the kind of dolefully saccharine wish-fulfilment fantasy that blissfully reunites divorced parents through the power of friendship, and has the youth of today enjoying Charlie Chaplin? The kind of Hollywood whimsy that has Jim Carrey dancing with a farting CGI penguin? This particular brand of sinister silliness that has the gall to cast the delightful Clark Gregg as a villainous zookeeper, and has Carrey (cheerily) nearly murder him by locking him in a freezer - all accompanied by the twinkling of a musical score that reprises "Ding dong, the witch is dead" as its primary leitmotif? Wait - come back, heartstrings Morgan! Where are you going?At its best, Mr. Popper's Penguins is harmless, instantly forgettable child-friendly distraction. At its worst, it is a devious, sinister parable celebrating the mid-life crises and/or mental breakdowns of skeezy realtors as heartwarming epiphanies. The moral of the story, evidently, is that bribery can work to win back the love of your estranged children, but their love is purely conditional upon you being a vehicle for destructive animal hijinx, or the gusto with which you encourage them to pursue harmful relationships with, like, OMG, totally gross boys. Things never go full Furry Vengeance, but we're in the Fraser zone here folks. Tread carefully. A penguin even gets to fly. Aww. Dreams do come true. For some reason, Angela Lansbury and Philip Baker Hall are here, to frown a lot and be the butt of their fair share of old people jokes. Take comfort in the fact that their paycheques probably bought them lovely vacations that allowed them to shake off the memories of this dross. It's not all for naught - there's the occasional clever or charming bit (Carrey's alliterative assistant is an always amiable, acquiescing acquaintance), and Carrey himself is so inherently charismatic that he almost pulls it off. He even works in ad-libs referencing the Doors and the Beatles, for some reason, which is almost enough to give him the all-clear. But then there's that closing sequence: a long take tracking shot of Carrey in soft-focus lighting, smirking, accompanied by the most rousing "ding dong, the witch is dead" refrain yet, as he passes by each of the other characters of the film - his conquests - who all grin at him in braindead subjugation to his reformed Hollywood saviour prowess. Nope, that reaching sound you just heard wasn't from the farting penguin. In conclusion: there's a great clip from Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World, where he existentially, poetically, narrates the plight of a single penguin, maniacally determined to flee its compatriots in favour of a suicide mission into the interior of Antarctica. "This deranged penguin," Herzog intones solemnly, accompanied by the dirge of Gregorian chants, as we watch this little bird scuttle off towards certain death, likely too stupid to know better. Watch that instead of Mr. Popper's Penguins. -4/10

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Prismark10
2011/06/22

Carrey is back in Liar Liar mode or is it Yes Man? Anyhow Popper is an ace real estate developer and he is out to close a deal with Miss Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury) to buy the Tavern on the Green which should make him a partner in the firm.Popper is too busy with work and too busy to be with his kids and his lack of attention of his domestic life led to his divorce. He inherits some penguins from his deceased dad and life becomes chaotic in his upscale apartment which he turns into a winter wonderland but he is being pursued by a zoo keeper who wants to take the penguins off him but Popper's kids engage with their dad for the first time.There is some fun with CGI penguins as they slide and shimmer but its a case of a Carrey film where we seen it all before with Carrey as the workaholic corporate executive once again. Kids will find the penguins fun and Carrey's face pulling endearingly enough but its a fair enough film but nothing more.

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tombiddy87
2011/06/23

This may be a film mainly aimed at kids but even so it is a mess. The outline plot is Tom Popper inherits a penguin which his Father leaves to him in his will and some how after attempting to get rid of the penguin ends up with five more. We all know what sort of film were expecting when you put Jim Carrey and a bunch of penguins together but the plot made no sense. It's becomes the norm for films portray Dads as always working and never spending enough time with their kids and that's exactly how Tom Popper(Jim Carrey) is portrayed in this film. It's called real life, People have to work. Another non sensical moment is when a animal expert comes to his flat to try and convince him to have the penguins because they need to leave in certain conditions and he is portrayed as the bad guy for thinking of the penguins best welfare.Sadly no individual performance seems to stand out but the script doesn't do it any favours. It needs to be kept in ming that this is mainly aimed at kids who will enjoy it but it is a shame it couldn't work on more then one level.

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g-bodyl
2011/06/24

Jim Carrey's Mr.Popper's Penguins is actually a better film than I anticipated. This film actually reminded me of the Jim Carrey of old. He had some of his 90's slapstick despite it being toned down for a family audience. I really liked the penguins in this film. They were quite mischievous but cute. After watching this film, I came to respect penguins even more.Mark Water's film is about one of those divorced fathers with two children who in order to get his kids to like him again, he decides to keep some penguins that his dad sent him. However, there is a certain zookeeper standing in the way.Jim Carrey was pretty good in this. He is not up to his usual antics but he's getting close. Clark Gregg makes a good, villainous zookeeper. It was also nice to see Angela Lansbury in a movie again.Overall, this is a decent comedy that the whole family would enjoy. There's not too much in the way of violence which is a good thing. These penguins are enough to keep the kids entertained. There may be a few slow moments but all-in-all I liked this film better than the critics did. I rate this film 8/10.

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