Aaaand the Penguin Craze is Finally Done
Not really.
But we can all agree that they are the most compelling of flightless birds, so waddley and awkward, yet classy, especially for Antarctica, which I hear leans cazh. Their formal attire is surely better suited to the tony environs of Manhattan, especially circles frequented by real estate developers and other tacky members of the nouveau riche. See? I just used a French term. It's part of the classifying penguin influence.
So it makes sense that a movie producer would think, possibly as an intellectual exercise, "What would happen if I dared to squish the documentary penguin genre with the animated penguin genre? With Jim Carrey? What could possibly go wrong???"
Lots, it turns out.
Jim Carrey can be great as a real crazypants and even, sometimes, when he plays it straight. He doesn't do either in this movie, or much of anything. Except be bland. Self-deprecatingly bland. He plays Mr. Popper, a real estate developer who inherits six penguins from his long-lost father. Though they blend with the decor of his posh apartment, they are not a lifestyle accessory that he had been hankering for. However, he decides to keep them when his children and their mother, um, warm to them. Also, he's trying to buy Tavern on the Green from Angela Lansbury. And Mr. Popper is coming to regret ever parting ways from Mrs. Popper. And some eggs are hatching!
You'll never guess where this is going.
A documentary about many penguins is interesting, but when you have six in a Manhattan loft, they all end up looking the same. One penguin would have been cute, it would have had personality. Six are annoying and boring. Which is exactly how this movie is.
