MR POPPER’S PENGUINS

US, 2011, 94 minutes. Colour.
Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond, Madeline Carroll, Clark Gregg, Jeffrey Tambor, David Krumholtz, Philip Baker Hall, Maxwell Perry Cotton.
Directed by Mark Waters.

Those Ps in the title are important. Tom Popper’s assistant, Pippi (played by British actress, Ophelia Lovibond which sounds like a fictional name but is real), has a profound predilection for positing, placing and pronouncing P words. You find yourself waiting for her to say her lines, wondering how she will bring so many Ps into them – she does. But, that is not where the main focus lies. That is with the Popper penguins.

Mr Popper is played by Jim Carrey in something of a return to the Carrey of the 1990s, shades of Ace Ventura, but a little mellowed by time and experience. We first see Tom Popper as a young boy, admiring his adventurer father who makes radio contact from (very) far-flung destinations and sends a souvenir from them all. Tom seems a very nice boy, sad at his father’s absences. One didn’t expect him to grow into the adult Tom Popper whose skill is in snake oil conning people into selling their building assets. We see him doing this to Jeffrey Tambor with the sound effects assistance of Pippi. He expects to become a partner in a big firm but they first want him to buy the famous Garden on the Green restaurant in Central Park. Where are the penguins!

They turn up soon. You might have guessed that Dad sent them as a final souvenir from Antarctica.

Penguins these days seem to be number one favourite at the box-office: March of the Penguins, Surf’s Up, the cunning penguin pilots of the Madagascar comedies and Happy Feet, with Happy Feet 2 to come. Popper’s are very likeable penguins. They even get names, Captain, Lovey, Bitey (he does), Stinkey (causing childish merriment when he emits his stinkiness) and Nimrod who has seen too many Jim Carrey movies and is prone to excessive mugging as he bumps into things and overbalances. Some are real, others animatronic and it seems impossible to decide who is which.

Tom is separated from his wife of fifteen years, Carla Gugini. Of course, the penguins are going to be reconcilers, especially as Tom’s son and daughter love them. But that comes after some mayhem in Tom’s fashionable apartment, their intruding on a social event at the Guggenheim, their being abducted for exchange by a New York Zookeeper and an escape from the zoo.

Mr Popper’s Penguins may work quite well as a film for the family, something for everyone. And the added presence of Angela Lansbury at 85 playing the owner of the Garden on the Green with touches of the crochetty and the fairy godmother is a pleasure.

1. The intended audience? The children’s book? Adult enjoyment?

2. Jim Carrey comedy, slapstick, for the family, about families, the animals?

3. The penguin appeal, real penguins, animatronic penguins? Behaviour, antics? Look, sound, action? Comedy?

4. The six different penguins and their naming, Captain, Lovey, Biter, Stinker, Nimrod?

5. The realism of the film, the fantasy? Musical score? Songs?

6. New York City, the skyscrapers and offices, the Tavern on the Green, the skating rink, the zoo? The end in Antarctica?

7. The introduction to Tom, his age, the gifts from his father, the radio contact, the bond with his father, the title Bald Eagle? The failure of his father to come to birthdays?

8. Tom and the transition from nice little boy to adult Jim Carrey, Pippi and her being the assistant, his jobs, his interview with Mr Gremmins, the soft sell, imagining him sailing, the sound effects from Pippi? Buying the building?

9. The company, the bosses, old? Wanting to pull down buildings and build new ones? His being a partner or not? His stone and the engraving? The final task?

10. Tom and his wife, fifteen years of marriage, her leaving? Her relationship with Rick? With the children? Tom and his love for his children? Going to the house, Janie and her moods, her boyfriend? Billy and his enthusiasm? Tom and his gauche remarks to his daughter? Preparation for the birthday, the gift? The arrival of the penguins?

11. The delivery of Captain, unpacking, in the bath, the flood? The superintendent and his interventions? The payoff for the concierge? The arrival of the extra penguins?

12. The children’s problems, the gift, playing with the penguins, delight? Amanda and her response?

13. Hiring the babysitter, penguin sitter? Their watching the television, Charlie Chaplin and their enjoyment, his walking like a penguin? The appearance of the walrus and panic?

14. Meeting Mrs Van Gundy? Angela Lansbury and her screen presence? Her calling him a snake oil salesman? The challenge to pander to her, to buy the building? Trying to exercise charm? The social, his dancing with Mrs Van Gundy, the arrival of the penguins, chaos and mayhem? Her later meetings with Tom, the issue of whether she would sell or not? Her wanting to identify the boy from the table in the past? Her being satisfied that he had changed?

15. The Tavern on the Green, Central Park, the tradition, the table, his memories of his father, going with Amanda, enjoying the meal?

16. Amanda, the date, going skating with her? Her decision to go to Ghana? Tom’s plea that she not go?

17. The man from the zoo, his plans, wanting to exchange the penguins for other animals? His sinister behaviour? Phone calls?

18. His arrival, taking the penguins, the plans, the kids, Amanda coming to the zoo, the chase, the escape, Captain flying, saving the penguins? The reaction of the police?

19. The comedy with the penguins, the special effects? The eggs, the hatching? Tom having to cope?

20. The background of the family, Janie and her sulking, her father and the good advice? Her mellowing? His buying the dress for her for the dance? Her growing up? Billy and his support of his father?

21. The finale, the Antarctic, visiting the penguins – and the new eggs? A cheerful film?