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Rating:
When a penguin (computer-enhanced) manages to be more entertaining than Jim Carrey, it starts to get worrying! Was Snowflake the dolphin in “Ace Ventura” funnier than Jim Carrey? Needless to say, those were different times with a different Carrey, considering that in recent Talk Shows where he's been a guest, he made me burst out laughing, showcasing a series of mimics and physical inventions worthy of the best years of his career.
“Mr. Popper's Penguins” is undoubtedly a children's movie, not irreverent and therefore not Ace Ventura, but damn... the leading actor is Jim Carrey, engaged in a fun comedy! Kids go to the cinema, but so do fans and supporters. Even “Liar Liar” was a family comedy (also insipid, American moralistic, and saccharine to the point of nausea), yet Carrey delivered his most entertaining rubbery gags ever! We pay the ticket for him, and we want to see HIM! Not someone poorly imitating him. Seeing the caricature of a caricature character is a paradox that results in more than a negative outcome! Throughout the film, it seemed like the actor had a 44 Magnum pointed at his head with the director saying, “STOOOOP DOOOON'T YOU DARE... NO FUNNY FACES!”, didn't you feel the same? It's a children's comedy? What's more entertaining for a child than someone making funny faces? Especially if it's Jim Carrey doing them! But nothing... three or four recycled faces in the entire film. We are left with a tried-and-tested acting technique that is still a pleasure to watch, even though it constantly feels like déjà-vu (make a new face, damn it!).
NOTE FOR THE CRITICS: When he acts goofy, you say he's an exaggerated caricature of Jerry Lewis. When he's serious, no Oscar because... the one making funny faces like a moron is doing the serious act. When he goes back to comedy but limits his funny faces, you write “far from the best days of Ace Ventura”, the question is: What the hell do you want?
If, however, the lack of the protagonist's demented slapstick repertoire was contained to make the screenplay's fun functional... well, the attempt failed! It's true that the penguins are cute and funny in more than one scene (especially the water slide scene in the museum), but between one funny gag and another, there's a sea of dead moments, so much so that I fell asleep at the beginning of the second half! (they had to wake me up with popcorn throws). The plot is nice and the subject has good potential, but it's a shame that a valid idea and an actor who swims well in this genre were not exploited to the fullest. I wonder if a children's movie has to necessarily tackle banal themes! A child is not stupid! A bit of healthy irreverence wouldn’t hurt! (Used to watching cartoons like South Park!), here everything is so perfect that even a child would feel like calling the protagonists idiots. A story stuffed with pecks, simplistic moralism, anesthetic dialogues, nauseating rhetoric about family (repetitive, repetitive, and repetitive…) and sugary love, with a rebellious daughter and a little son to entertain at all costs to prevent him from becoming a future toxic metalhead. Bread and love that put you to sleep in one bite. An almost useless feature film! Some satisfaction comes in the artistic field, with real penguins trained properly and fake penguins created very realistically (a rare case of a modern film where digital creatures seem to really interact with the set and don’t give the sensation of playing a game on the first Playstation). I won't even comment on the direction, as more mediocre it couldn’t be.
Ultimately, an occasionally fun comedy to watch just once on rental during a winter evening in the grip of a damned Christmas spirit (if you can manage!).
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