Forum DISCUSSION of MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS

I saw it with my family. They all seemed to really enjoy it. They actually laughed several times through. I didn't think it was bad either. No nominations from me, except some CGI award.

Just watched it, have to say, the penguins' names are f***ing horrible! e.g. Bitey, Stinky, Loudy, Lovey. Also, Clark Gregg had quite a s**t supporting role, in which later on during the film, SPOILER ALERT: His character was going to trade the penguins for animals like Bengal tigers, WHO F***ING DOES THAT!

This one really hurts, as Richard and Florence Atwater's book was one of my favorites as a child.  While I was hoping it would reach the big screen some day, I'd always imagined it as more a period piece, to be set around the time the book was in fact written; even reading it in the early 90s, that seemed right for the story they were telling; certainly, in today's financial world, showing the Poppers' overt financial travails, balanced PROPERLY with the difficulties of raising an increasingly large number of penguins would have hit a chord with people still struggling to find jobs in the recovery (assuming they'd have the money to buy a movie ticket, that is).  And the humor there was perfect, with everything naturally coming from the penguins' natural instincts.  Some time down the road, if someone actually wants to try it this way, then maybe they'd have a worthwhile picture, but this, no, not in the least.  Now if someone even so much as touches The Cricket in Times Square (Chuck Jones's adaptation in the 70s, though somewhat compressed, works well enough as it is, as did its 2 holiday followups), somebody just might get thrown off the studio roof...

True comedic genius remains laugh out loud funny throughout the ages and with each viewing of a movie. Carrey's stuff might make you laugh out loud the first time you see it, but years later, you're lucky if you can work up a chuckle upon seeing that movie again.

Originally posted by Michaels The only other serious role of Jim Carrey's was "The Truman Show".

Originally posted by whatsthepoint Carrey is an incredible actor and a brilliant comedian. I don't care what anybody on this forum says.

I'm responding to this tonight only because I am bored. The word "incredible" is an extremely strong adjective. Perhaps you could give me one example of Carrey turning in one performance that qualifies as worthy of that word, let alone a string of them? And no, I am not going to accept Man on the Moon inspite of Carrey's Oscar nomination, which was a very misguided gesture on the part of AMPAS. I had the pleasure of meeting Andy Kaufman, and Jim Carrey is no Andy Kaufman. Brillant comedian? Evidently all that is required to achieve that status is the ability to make faces and pass off body function jokes. I don't think I have ever seen anything in a Carrey movie that made me laugh. A truly brilliant comic has wide appeal. I can provide a lengthy list of men and women who have achieved that status. Carrey would not be on it. I have made this point before: Personal taste does not convey universal appeal. I like the movie UHF. Frankly, it was a piece of crap comedy that made me laugh. The fact that I liked it doesn't make it a masterpiece in the genre. Nor does your enjoyment of Carrey's work make him either an incredible actor or brilliant comedian.

I thought from the trailers it looked okay.