Thomas Popper Jr. (Jim Carrey) has it all: being able to bribe people with selling their businesses with stories of his explorer father, a beautiful assistant (Ophelia Lovibond) (whose knack is saying as many words with the letter 'P' as possible), beautiful apartment, and memories of his father. After his death, Popper Sr. decides to make up for the time he didn't spend with him by leaving behind a gift from one of his many travels: a live penguin. Little does he realize that it will lead him to care for better understand his family as well as being the key to seal the deal with Ms. Van Gundy (a surprising return from Angela Lansbury) to buy her family's restaurant near the brink of its extinction.
Judy Moody (newcomer Jordana Beatty), however, feels like she's losing everything. A couple months have passed since Mr. Popper met his arctic friends and summer returns. While some kids spend their time inventing time machines, giant robots, and saving the world in an alternate dimension, she's about to have the worse summer ever. With two of her best friends gone to Borneo and Circus Camp, she relies on her nerdy friend Frank (Preston Bailey), little brother Stink (Parris Mosteller), and her Aunt Opal (a too-cool Heather Graham) to assist her with a competition she created with her friends to gain the most Thrill Points before the end of summer. With no materialistic reward, she goes for her Thrill Points by riding the fastest and biggest roller coaster in a nearby theme park, participating in arts and crafts, trying out new foods, and catching Bigfoot.
Which person has the better outcome from their predicaments?
Ms. Moody, if that's her real name, isn’t worrying about impressing her kids and regaining their trust. She’s only a third grader. Mr. Potter, on the other hand, does so by promising his son that he's able to keep the penguins (after being forced to do so by his always mad teen daughter). While trying to keep to his word, he also has to deal with an Animal Control officer from the Central Park Zoo who’s trying to take the penguins to ship them off in separate zoos breaking up the family dynamic. He could have tried selling them to the highest bidder, making a coat out of them, or dressing them up as his Avengers (guess from the Marvel movies makes an appearance), but he wants them believing that Mr. Popper is unfit to care for them. After a certain scene involving said penguins, the officer's right until he goes from being a guy who cares for the animals to one who's heartless and insincere.
It's great to see both Ms. Lansbury and Mr. White back on the big screen in years since hearing Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Universal Pictures' Big Fat Liar (2002). With Popper, there isn't a reason why Jim Carrey is the lead character besides his name being able to sell tickets. One reason could have been because he wanted to be in a family film that wouldn't be a gigantic bomb that will lead to the closing of a film studio. The other is his kids needing a family film that they can enjoy besides being the vile enemy of Whoville and solving mysteries of missing animals. The film is Ace Ventura III in disguise rather than the unneeded spin-off Ace Ventura Jr. since this is the closest he’s been with animals, both real and CGI, in years. While his appearance in theaters has grown to be as short as his relationship to Jenny McCarthy, he’s having fun with his foul-weathered friends leading to children also wanting their own pet penguins. Let’s hope that their times spent with them aren’t filled with defecation, loud honks interrupting your beauty sleep, nesting in the cheese drawer, turning the thermostat to equal the penguins' habitat, and dinner where fish is the only item on the menu. Talk about a lot of responsibility.
Judy's tasks, on the other hand, to obtain the Thrill Points seem easy but proven to be challenges until realizing that her journey to have the best summer ever was worth it. Raising penguins in her suburban neighborhood should equal to some of them right?
Both films are silly yet also aren't worth the $7.50 or more ticket price. Premiering next Friday in theaters along with Green Lantern, Mr. Popper's Penguins is another film where some people consider that the actors only took the roles for extra paychecks. Premiering in theaters alongside Super 8 this weekend, Judy Moody will be another family film lost in the shuffle of the blockbusters with a new one every Friday of the month (Transformers being released on a Wednesday). The penguins and Judy herself are all cute along with entertaining families, but are saved for rentals once they hit DVD/Blu-Ray. They also contain a few flaws, but aren't enough to keep the kids from asking their parents to see them during summer vacation. Even if the parents decide to pay to see these films, they will no longer deal with the blistering heat for a while or seeing Kung-Fu Panda 2 20 times. A warning for those families wanting to see Popper in action, get there a little late. Like Rio, the animated short Scrat's Continental Crack-Up is shown once again to further insert in their heads that Ice Age IV's on its way. When will Fox get to advertise their supposed third outing with The Chipmunks? No complaints about that decision.
*Carla Gugino's not playing her spy games this summer, but take a trip down memory lane by watching Spy Kids (2001) on DVD.
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