Mr. Popper's Penguins (movie)

Mr. Popper's Penguins is a 2011 American comedy family movie. It was directed by Mark Waters, and stars Jim Carrey. It was loosely based on the children's book of the same name. The movie was released on June 17, 2011.

Release Dates

Plot
Thomas "Tom" Popper has a job buying and selling properties. He gets news that his father has died during an adventure to Antarctica. Popper's lawyer tells him he will inherit a souvenir from his father's last adventure.

A crate arrives at Popper's front door, with a gentoo penguin (Captain) inside. Soon, because of confusion with a crew member, five more penguins arrive: (Bitey, Stinky, Lovey, Nimrod, and Loudy). Popper wants to donate all six penguins to a pest control company. But his children, Janie Popper and Billy Popper, think that the penguins are Billy's birthday present. Mr. Popper meets with a zookeeper, Nat Jones, who also wants the penguins. Popper asks him to collect the penguins another time. Jones agrees, but he warns that the conditions in Popper's apartment are not good enough to raise penguins.

At the same time, Popper is given the task of buying "Tavern on the Green", where he used to eat with his father as a child. He wants to tear it down and building a new development in its place. However, its elderly owner, Selma Van Gundy, refuses to sell it to him. She does not like his plan.

The penguins soon lay three eggs. Two of the eggs hatch and one doesn't. Popper loses his job while waiting for the last egg to hatch. He has made his bosses angry for not focusing on the tavern for them. Jones sneaks in the apartment one night and warns him that penguins can only survive in the cold or zoo and vows to get the penguins sometime. Popper puts snow in his apartment, and lowers his temperature for the penguins in an attempt to help. Finally, realizing that the egg can't be hatched, Popper sadly donates all the pigeons to Jones for the New York zoo. He then is re-hired by his bosses, and refocuses his attention on purchasing the Tavern on the Green. His family is not happy. The next day his ex-wife decides to travel to Africa for three weeks with her boyfriend Rick, and leaves the kids in his care.

Popper finds a lost letter from his father, which had been sent with the first penguin, Captain. In it, his father tells him to love his children, just as this penguin would love him. Having a change of heart, Popper asks his children and ex-wife to help him get the penguins back from the zoo before his ex-wife goes to Africa and he sells the tavern.

Popper and his family ask Jones about getting the penguins back, but Jones refuses. He lies and says they have been traded to other zoos. But Popper discovers that Jones is lying with help from the shouting penguin named Loudy. He frees the penguins from a cooler in the office and locks Jones inside. While escaping, Popper and his family notice that Jones has managed to get free and security guards are looking everywhere for them. Popper and his family manage to escape with the penguins and flee to the tavern with Jones in pursuit on a golf-cart.

After seeing how Popper had reunited his family and rescued the penguins, Van Gundy sells him the restaurant. But rather than tear it and the park down, Popper orders that the restaurant be renovated and reopened. Immediately after Van Gundy makes the deal with Popper, Jones arrives with the police to arrest Popper for theft of the penguins. After explaining the story in front of the crowd and police, the officers agree to spare Popper from prison if they can find out who the penguins love. Jones holds up a sardine for the penguins, thinking they love fish more than Popper, but the penguins go to Popper instead. The crowd applauds for Popper. Jones gets hysterical and angry, so police officers arrest Jones instead.

Popper and his family travel to Antarctica with the penguins, allowing them to live with their own kind and promising to visit on occasions. Popper's first penguin, Captain, is revealed to have laid another egg. Popper tells his children that they'll have to come back and visit when the baby, who he named Bald Eagle, is born.

Cast
 Jim Carrey as Thomas "Tom" Popper, Jr.
 Carla Gugino as Amanda Popper
 Madeline Carroll as Janie Popper
 Maxwell Perry Cotton as Billy "Bill" Popper
 Angela Lansbury as Selma Van Gundy
 Desmin Borges as Daryl
 Philip Baker Hall as Mr. Franklin
 Dominic Chianese as Mr. Reader
 Clark Gregg as Nat Jones
 Ophelia Lovibond as Pippi
 Jeffrey Tambor as Mr. Gremmins
 David Krumholtz as Kent
 James Tupper as Rick

Production
Originally, Ben Stiller was supposed to play Mr. Popper, and Noah Baumbach was originally going to direct, but they dropped out. Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Jim Carrey were all considered to replace Stiller, with the role eventually going to Carrey. Mark Waters was chosen to direct.

On September 21, 2010, it was confirmed that Carla Gugino joined the cast as Tom's ex-wife Amanda Popper.

The musical score was ambitious, with music playing nearly throughout. It was written by Rolfe Kent, and orchestrated by Tony Blondal. It was recorded at the scoring stage at 20th Century Fox in Century City, Ca. with a 78 piece orchestra.

An online Museum Slide Game created by designer Mark Kavanaugh as promotional material for the film is still accessible.

Box office and critical reception
The film earned $6.4 million on opening day and $18.4 million over the three-day weekend, ranking in third place behind Green Lantern and Super 8. The opening was at the high end of 20th Century Fox's expectations, which was predicting a mid to high teens opening. In its second weekend, the film faced competition from Cars 2 and dropped 45% to $10.1 million and ranked in fifth place. Over the four-day Independence Day holiday weekend, it ranked in eighth place after dropping 34% to $6.7 million. The film has earned $68,224,452 domestically and $119,137,302 in foreign countries, grossing a total of $187,361,754 worldwide.

The film has received mixed reviews from critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 48%, based on 136 reviews, as of August 2012. The consensus reads "Blandly inoffensive and thoroughly predictable, Mr. Popper's Penguins could have been worse—but it should have been better." It was released in Blu-ray and DVD on December 6, 2011 along with The Help, The Debt, Cowboys & Aliens, and The Hangover Part II.

Home media
Mr. Popper's Penguins was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 6, 2011. It includes a short film called Nimrod and Stinky's Antarctic Adventure.

References

Other websites
 
 
 
 
 
 

2011 movies
2010s comedy movies

American comedy movies
American family movies
English-language movies
Movies about animals
Movies based on books
Movies set in Antarctica
Movies set in New York City
Penguins
20th Century Fox movies