Mr. Popper's Penguins (movie)

For the book of the same name, see Mr. Popper's Penguins.

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.

Mr. Popper's Penguins
Directed by	Mark Waters
Produced by	John Davis
Screenplay by	Sean Anders John Morris Jared Stern
Based on	Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater Florence Atwater
Starring	Jim Carrey Carla Gugino Madeline Carroll Clark Gregg Angela Lansbury
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Florian Ballhaus
Edited by	Bruce Green
Production company	Davis Entertainment Company Dune Entertainment
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date	June 17, 2011 (2011-06-17)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$55 million
Box office	$187,361,754

Release Dates

Country	Premiere
Singapore	16 June 2011
Canada	17 June 2011
Philippines	17 June 2011
United States	17 June 2011
Chile	23 June 2011
Czech Republic	23 June 2011
Germany	23 June 2011
	23 June 2011
Hungary	23 June 2011
Peru	23 June 2011
Lithuania	24 June 2011
Australia	30 June 2011
Uruguay	30 June 2011
Bulgaria	1 July 2011
Brazil	1 July 2011
Pakistan	1 July 2011
Kazakhstan	6 July 2011
Sweden	6 July 2011
Belarus	7 July 2011
Greece	7 July 2011
	7 July 2011
	7 July 2011
Kuwait	7 July 2011
Malaysia	7 July 2011
Russia	7 July 2011
Slovenia	7 July 2011
Ukraine	7 July 2011
France	20 July 2011
Argentina	21 July 2011
Portugal	21 July 2011
Colombia	22 July 2011
	22 July 2011
Spain	22 July 2011
Mexico	22 July 2011
Poland	22 July 2011
Denmark	28 July 2011
Finland	29 July 2011
Armenia	30 July 2011
United Kingdom	5 August 2011
Ireland	5 August 2011
Netherlands	11 August 2011
Italy	12 August 2011
Belgium	17 August 2011
Norway	26 August 2011
Turkey	26 August 2011
South Korea	7 September 2011
Panama	9 September 2011
Venezuela	16 September 2011

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.

Other websites

• Official website
• Mr. Popper's Penguins on IMDb
• Mr. Popper's Penguins at AllRovi
• Mr. Popper's Penguins at Metacritic
• Mr. Popper's Penguins at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mr. Popper's Penguins at Box Office Mojo