Wow! I never thought the evolution of the poop joke would come to this. But it has. It is here. And I’m not certain, but what I’m about to describe to you just might be too graphic for younger readers. Excited? Buckle up.
Before I get too gross I’ll tell you Mr. Popper’s Penguins is based on the children’s book by Richard and Florence Atwater. It centers on Tom Popper (Jim Carrey), a man who suddenly inherits six penguins from his never-there and now-deceased father. He’s divorced from his wife (Carla Gugino) and sees his two kids Janie and Billy (Madeline Carroll and Maxwell Perry Cotton) every other weekend. And while Billy seems to have a decent relationship with his father, Janie seems more interested in her cell phone and the boy at school than her father, which is to say she’s normal. So what’s the solution to what appears to be a relatively normal family? Yup, penguins.
I’m sure you remember growing up and how terrible life was and how much better it would have been if you only had a penguin. Well guess what; Janie and Billy now have six of them! Jealous aren’t yah? Tough nuts for you!
So Tom finds a way to his children’s hearts — through gifts, not love — but taking care of penguins is a full-time job and it’s already affecting his work. You see, Tom is a high-powered businessman working for a company that apparently thrives on buying popular landmarks and destroying them. In this film, the target is Central Park’s now closed (but in the film still fully operational) Tavern on the Green. It’s the one acquisition that stands between Tom and a major promotion, but he’s going to have to con an 85-year-old Angela Lansbury if he wants to get it.
Man, now that I see it in words it sounds like some serious family fun, but wait, there’s more!
So I told you how those penguins were hard to care for right? Well, outside of the fact they need a very cold environment and a daily supply of fish, did you realize penguins poop and fart like crazy! I mean, seriously, they poop and fart all over the place. Let me give you an example.
After Tom has just received his first penguin, which he names Captain, he leaves it in the bathtub with some ice while he heads off to work, remembering to lock the bathroom door before he leaves in case the penguin gets out. See, Tom’s no dummy. But oops, the penguin accidentally turns on the water and before you know it the entire bathroom is filled. Yeah, not only did Tom lock the door, but he has an air tight seal on his bathroom doors that can turn it into an aquarium should the situation call for it, which I’m sure it often does.
When Tom gets home, wouldn’t you know it, he opens the door and water gushes all over him, sending him dangling from the railing above his living room. It’s here that Captain saunters on over like a real boss and looks down on Tom. “No you better not!” Tom yells (or something like that), but Captain isn’t listening. Captain turns around, lifts her tail and gives the audience an up close introduction to her blowhole (I’m keeping it as clean as I can). Good thing this movie isn’t in 3D because next comes the white stream of penguin poo, and yes, the entire thing is caught on camera and yours to cherish for the rest of your life. I just wonder, what will Tom do when his penguins graduate to making Two Penguins One Cup viral videos in a few years? That’s when it gets really real.
High jinks like this carry on throughout the film as penguins poop, fart, run into walls, watch a lot of Charlie Chaplin (can you blame ’em) and slide through the Guggenheim. And this is the work of director Mark Waters whose success with Mean Girls has seen him graduate to films such as Just Like Heaven, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and now a film about penguins suffering from frequent bowel movements. Talk about trajectory!
I guess it could be worse, the penguins could talk, which is why we always have Zookeeper to look forward to.
