Tom Popper (Carrey) grew up with an absentee dad who used to communicate with him on CB radio from his Antarctic expeditions. (Kids, CB was like old timey cell phones.) As a grown up, Popper’s a corporate wheeler-dealer who’s out of touch with his own kids. His father leaves Popper some penguins in his will, and the penguins turn his New York apartment and life upside down.

New ‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins’ Trailer Is Penguin-Filled To The Max

You know where this goes. At first Popper doesn’t like the penguins. He’s annoyed with them. Then they start to grow on him and he learns valuable lessons that help him reconnect with his family too. That’s the deal and it feels organic. At least they’re not forcing a B.S. agenda. It actually is good for people to learn to listen to each other.

The corporate subplot is Popper’s firm wants him to buy Tavern on the Green so they can tear it down. So they’re evil and he’s going to have to rebel against them. Popper has to sell Mrs. Van Gandy (Angela Lansbury) on the deal, so of course his penguin antics seem unprofessional.

Carrey still makes the best faces in the business and he elevates the animal antics with his physical skill. It’s not laugh out loud funny, but basic penguin humor. They poop, they waddle, they sleep in his bed. Carrey is really playing to kids, so it’s almost a little toned down, or maybe he just didn’t want to upstage the penguins.

There are some silly stretches of credibility. A house sitter does fine with the penguins until she freaks out and bolts, leaving the door wide open. That’s just not something a normal person does. Popper’s catch phrase “Yeahbsolutely” is no “all righty then.” Clark Gregg plays a hardcor zookeeper who wants to take the penguins away but the film never makes him a moustache twirler, or even a real threat.

So probably not a Screen Junkies type movie but maybe some of you have kids. As summer kids movies go it’s solid entertainment.

“The film follows two die-hard Beatles fans who, like many die-hard Beatles fans, don’t hold a very warm place in their heart for Yoko Ono and blame her for breaking up the band. They find a way to travel back in time to prevent John Lennon from ever meeting Yoko and keeping the Fab Four together.”

Whoa. Anyway, Mark Waters, whose next movie is going to be Mr. Popper’s Penguins, is now set to make Get Back. Maybe the movie is actually about how John and Yoko were in love, and that it was actually no one’s fault that The Beatles broke up, and Yoko Ono is actually a talented multimedia artist and visionary in the field of loud screeching. Then we might actually hear “Get Back” in Get Back. (JoBlo)

Looks like Ben Stiller and Noah Baumbach are no longer interested in adapting the childrens’ book Mr. Popper’s Penguins and no doubt making it depressing, so Fox is looking to director Mark Waters (Mean Girls) and Jim Carrey to fill their spots. Goodbye hipster soundtrack, hello funny faces!

The LA Times says nothing is confirmed at this point, and that Owen Wilson and Jack Black are also being considered. Sounds to me like someone at Fox is just shouting out names and hoping two of them are available, interested, and not dealing with personal sh*t at the moment. Zack Galifianakis! Martin Scorsese! Cobb salad! At this point, the studio exec takes his lunch from the mail room guy and shoves him out of the conference room. (SlashFilm)