Mr Popper’s Penguins review

I’m a big fan of Jim Carrey but usually, I’m the only one in this house who wants to see his movies. So I was pleasantly surprised when No 1 Son agreed to go and see Mr Popper’s Penguins. Here’s what he thought:

I was expecting another forgettable Jim Carrey movie with average slapstick comedy and a good 15 minutes consisting just of him pulling funny faces. However he genuinely puts on a good performance.

The plot is solid if a little ridiculous – slick businessman Jim Carrey’s father leaves him a bunch of penguins in his will, who promptly cause havoc and prevent Carrey from making a major deal. The comedy is fairly solid throughout as well. A slight flaw lies in how the children are presented – at first, they seem to have captured a stereotypical teenage girl perfectly, but at other times the children are far too plastic and unrealistic, which is a shame.

Naturally the star of the show is Carrey, hogging a huge amount of screen time, and managing to draw attention to himself even when there are other characters on screen. The CGI for the penguins is well done and each one of them has a separate personality and children will find them enjoyable to get attached to. All in all, a solid film and worth taking your kids to. 4 stars