Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, young Tommy Popper looks forward to the moments when, on his tiptoes to reach a ham radio in his bedroom, he can talk to his world-traveling father. Years later, Tommy is now Mr. Popper, a highly successful real estate developer in Manhattan. Amicably divorced from Amanda, with two children he sees on alternate weekends, Mr. Popper lives the life of luxury in his ultra-modern Park Avenue apartment and is well on his way to becoming partner at his prestigious firm. That is, until the morning a final gift from Popper's late father, a souvenir from Antarctica, arrives in a crate at Popper's front door.

Inside the wooden box, nestled amongst ice packs, is a two-foot tall penguin with bright orange feet. Not a toy penguin, or a stuffed bird from the taxidermist, as Popper at first assumes, but a real, live penguin, who scampers across Popper's floor and emits loud honks. Eager to be rid of this wild creature, Popper contacts every city and state agency imaginable, but no one is willing to take a pet penguin. His call to Antarctica to try to ship the bird back instead results in the arrival of another five penguins at Popper's door.

As he gets acquainted and increasingly attached to his winged roommates, Popper's life quickly unravels: his swanky New York apartment is turned into a snowy winter wonderland, the deal he's long been working on is derailed, and he almost lands in jail. But thanks to his new charges, Popper comes to understand the importance of family, human and otherwise.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond, Madeline Carroll

Directed by: Mark Waters


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