mr. poppers penguins

yup, its just as bad as you think it is.  the work obsessed dad neglects his kids and is trying to land an important deal that will allow him to be really successful at his work.  everything is going his way right up until he receives six penguins as an inheritance from his recently deceased absentee father.  these pesky penguins ruin everything!  his important deal with a client suffers, but his son and daughter suddenly like their dad again so he keeps the penguins as a way to connect.  many hilarious penguin related high jinx ensue.  dad finds his heart and realizes how important family is and even lands that important client and closes that great deal.  oh, and he gets back together with his ex wife, because that's what every child from a divorced home wants, so lets make sure we gloss over that and do a little fantasy fulfillment while we are at it.  this is cheap sentimental entertainment at its worst!  none of the character developments are earned or in any way represent reality, but it feels good, so we are expected to go with it!  the bad guy in the film is an animal care person from the zoo, you know, someone who actually knows whats best for the penguins and has the best interests of the animals in mind instead of using them to fix the family that popper selfishly broke in the first place.  tacked on ending aside, these birds would have been much better off if the zoo worker had won!  always a great lesson for the kids to learn, that the mature responsible person is evil, and the careless selfish person is the hero, right?  mr. carrey, you can do much better than this.

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