Mr. Popper's Penguins review

Mr. Popper's Penguins:

*** (out of four)

Starring Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino,

Madelline Carroll, Angela Lansbury

and Clark Gregg. Directed by Mark

Waters. Rated G. Approximately

94 minutes. Playing at major

theaters.

In 1938, a children's book by Richard and Florence Altwater called ``Mr. Popper's Penguins'' was published and now, in 2011, the book has been made into a movie.

I never read the book, but I had heard about the movie. I saw the first trailer for this movie when I went to see ``Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules''. When I first saw the trailer, I thought it looked absolutely dreadful. I didn't laugh once during the trailer. Jim Carrey had not had a hit in a while and it looked like this movie would not be successful.

However, in June, I went to see ``X-Men: First Class'' and they showed a second trailer for ``Mr. Popper's Penguins''. I must say, the second trailer was much better than the first trailer. I laughed a couple of times. So, I decided that I would give the movie a chance.

So, I went to see it on the opening day and I was impressed. It was certainly much better than his last big movie, ``Yes Man''.

I should probably explain what this movie is about. It tells the story of Tom Popper, a divorced businessman who is trying to get an elderly woman (Angela Lansbury) to sell an inn. One day, he receives a crate from his father, who was an explorer. Popper's father has passed away and has left him some penguins. Popper tries to get rid of them, but they keep showing up. However, Popper's children love them. Also, Popper grows closer to his ex-wife (Carla Gugino) when the penguins are around. Meanwhile, a zoologist (Clark Gregg) is after the penguins.

This is a fun movie for little kids because they will think the penguins are cute and funny because penguins fart, fall down, poop and make really loud noises. The parents might have a fun time, too, because there is a scene where the penguins slide around the Guggenheim Museum and crash into a band that is playing at a party. Parents and children will find this funny. Also, Jim Carrey does some good slapstick humor in this film.

This is not the best movie of 2011. The parts with Jim Carrey getting back together with his ex-wife were a little corny and could have been done in a better way. Also, I didn't laugh at every single joke in the movie, such as when Jim Carrey is teaching the penguins to dance and one of the penguins falls down. Still, I thought the penguins were cute and they could be funny and Jim Carrey did a fine job at keeping me entertained. ``Mr. Popper's Penguins'' is a good movie that I think adults should take their kids to see.