'Mr. Popper's Penguins' - F/50

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Aah Jim Carrey. First he's the Grinch, then the Cat In The Hat, and now? Apparently, he's a divorced man who lives with six penguins and enjoys turning his multi-million dollar condo into a "winter wonderland". Meanwhile, no one in the movie finds this odd. Oh, and of course, spoiler warning.


Childhood Life


The movie starts out showing Jim Carrey at about age 4 to age 8 talking to his dad over a radio set, as his dad is always away looking for an unknown treasure. This part was touching to some, but to most, it was just plain cheesy. Sadly, this part of the film was one of the okay parts, and only lasted for about two minutes.


F / 55


Business As Usual


As every kids movie, this film features a man who apparently hasn't figured out what life is all about. Instead, he's doing crazy things like making a living. So, he attempts to get an old lady who has owned a "very special" restaurant for a long time to sell, but she refuses to. His bosses then start freaking out, but he assures them that he'll have it done soon enough. He arrives at his multi-million dollar condo and finds a box. He opens it and places what he thinks is a stuffed penguin on a side table. And get ready for your minds to be blown: it's a real penguin! Wow. Never saw that coming. He tries to make the penguin go away, but all of his desperate attempts fail.


Grade: F / 30


The Ex-Lovely Lady and Her Children

Of course, he gets another box filled with five more penguins, and then he begins to freak out. He had already invited his ex-wife and her children over for his son's birthday, and his son mistakes the penguins as his presents. A zoo-keeper comes to get the six waddling birds, but Carrey refuses to give them to him, and promises to his son that he can keep them.


F / 40


Getting Re-Connected


The ex-wife decides to let her kids stay with Carrey for the night, and the older girl immediately assumes that Carrey has fallen in love with his ex-wife all over again. Which of course happens all of the time. The former family begins to bond and grow closer (which is quite a bit considering how much the kids hated him at the beginning), especially with the penguins. They go to the park, build a snowman, and Carrey and his ex go on a date at an ice skating rink.

D- / 70


What Life Is but Isn't All About


Are you enjoying the titles for the different sections? I sure am. Anyways, Jim then begins to fall apart when the first penguin's egg doesn't hatch, and gives the penguins to the zoo. His ex calls him "heartless", his kids hate him again, good stuff. After that, he gathers up his kids and takes them to the zoo to kidnap the penguins. He calls his ex-wife and of course she wants to get back together again and cancels her super-expensive vacation with her extremely eco-friendly boyfriend.


F / 60


Saving the Penguins and Impressing the Grandma


They then break into the zoo offices, steal the penguins out of a freezer, and lock the zookeeper in the freezer. They begin to waltz out the gate of the zoo, when they realize they are missing one. The first penguin has been chased onto the roof of the main building by two thugs who of course can't out-run a penguin. Said penguin then flies off of the roof with a toy plane and lands in the limo that is waiting for them. Sound exciting? It wasn't. He then gets the old lady's approval to buy the restaurant because she sees how kind he is. Yeah, not like she was just waiting for a better offer or something ridiculous like that. He remodels it and sits at his "special table" with his newly-reunited family. And..... it's over. Finally!


F / 45


All in all, I hated every second of it. The only part that I came close to enjoying was getting to see his condo in all of it's stainless steel glory. If that's not a big enough hint, don't go see it.


Overall Grade: F / 50