Overall Rating:
Score: 7.5/10
Grade: B+
Family-Friendliness Scale: Level 4 (Great)
Kids ages 7+
Tom Popper has just inherited, six penguins?! Seriously?
This modern update of the classic children's book tells the story of Tom Popper (Carrey), who lives a good life, being a successful businessman and trying to be a good father to his two kids, Janie (Madeline Carroll) and Billy, who spend every other weekend with him. But, his kids don't want to be with him, since he is so focused on business and not on his family. Well, all that turns around, when Tom learns of the passing of his father, who explored the northern part of the earth. And when he goes to hear of his will, he gets a present he never think he'd get, a live penguin!! And when five more are shipped to him later, its' bound to be chaos!!!
Positive Notes
This penguin adventure has positive messages on family, self-awareness, fatherhood, and trying your best. Popper learns to be a better dad, and by the time he had with his penguins he wins a second chance from his kids and his ex-wife Amanda (Carla Gugino). While not having much in common with its' book source, there is still a few educational bits on penguins and their habits. There are some funny parts with the penguins and bits of gentle slapstick.
The cast is good, including Carrey, Gugino, and Angela Lansbury, and the film has a nice backdrop of New York City in the wintertime, though it is slightly odd that it was released in the summer and not during the Christmas season.
Negative Notes
The film obviously has its' icebergs to get around. As usual with animal films, bathroom humor gets some screentime. And, as usual with Jim Carrey, they still have to sneak in some suggestive jokes that will go over kids' heads but will still make parents raise their eyebrows. The language is mostly limited to about a dozen misuses of God's name and a couple of interjections of the stand-in "freakin", but Carrey almost spits out a profanity one time (he is interrupted by a penguin squawking in his face), and there is one use each of the d-word and h-word during a song in the end credits.
Conclusion
So lets' take a look at how penguins have been in movies over the past decade. We first saw penguins being narrated in the arctic (March of the Penguins), and then we saw them as spies (Madagascar movies and the TV series), and we saw them surf (Surf's Up). So now, in a day and age when penguins are all the rage, we see them in the care of a loving family.
And family is what this adaptation highly speaks of. While it isn't accurate with the book source, it still gets bonus points for having educational bits on penguins and solid examples on fatherhood and setting aside differences. On the downside, we also see unnecessary recurring bathroom humor and language issues.
So while it has its' slippery spots, Popper's Penguins is a nice, family-friendly movie that delivers on heart and laughs...
