Mr. Popper's Penguins 2011

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: All of this would be simply banal if not for Waters' surehandedness and Carrey's clever inserts. This is staccato Carrey, throwing in lines and rubbery faces in between the kid movie machinations. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's not very good, but it works better than it has any right to because Carrey never ever phones it in. Read more

Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies: It's an old-fashioned movie, gentling its way toward satisfying familial reunion, fueled by almost always endearing penguin antics. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: A mildly amusing specimen of a genre that has produced some of the most unspeakable atrocities of recent cinema. Read more

Kevin B. Lee, Time Out: While the story is formula cornball, director Mark Waters sells it confidently, handling the unruly antarctic denizens as amiably as he handled Lindsay Lohan in his Freaky Friday remake and Mean Girls. Read more

Logan Hill, New York Magazine/Vulture: Jim Carrey's farts-and-flippers comedy, which, though exceedingly dumb, is at least very smart about what appeals to 4- to 10-year-old kids, fans of Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, and YouTube animal videos. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: My heart was warmed by gratuitous moments when Mr. Carrey clowns for clowning's sake -- in the best of them, he makes a slo-mo entrance to a press conference, even though the camera is running at normal speed. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: It stokes memories of an era of clever, adventurous and genuinely sweet movies for kids, on one hand, while planting a future memory of quality for today's tykes. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: A film that can't seem to buy into its own strident message of "family first," possibly because to prove your love, you apparently have to risk the wrath of everyone from your co-op board to PETA. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Director Mark Waters manages to wring some charm out of the film, and out of Jim Carrey. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Everything about it is synthetic except for the occasions in which Carrey can rouse himself from the somnolence of family-movie slop. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The beloved 1938 children's book about a house painter who becomes guardian to a dozen penguins has been turned into a standard-issue children's comedy with Jim Carrey. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Director Waters did the "Freaky Friday" remake as well as "Mean Girls," and knows enough not to turn a slapstick melee into a headache. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The good news is that, even though one must pace oneself through the dull parts, usually involving Mr. Popper's dullish family, [Carrey's] in pretty good form whenever he's getting physical Read more

Joy Tipping, Dallas Morning News: Be prepared for the oh-so-real possibility that your kid -- or your wife -- is going to want a penguin for Christmas after seeing this movie. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Why is Jim Carrey standing around watching penguins be funny? Why isn't he in a movie where Jim Carrey is funny? Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: With, say, Eddie Murphy as the star, Mr. Popper's Penguins might have been a glorified paycheck contrivance. But Carrey is so naturally stylized that he coaxes the film's gentle, creature-feature insanity to life. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: Such a brazenly moronic and uninspired example of a family movie that you'd swear it was a parody of brazenly moronic and uninspired family movies. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: The six penguins cast in this amiable Fox family comedy steal the movie -- along with any fish they can find -- although the film's star, Jim Carrey, does manage very nicely to hold his own. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: "Mr. Popper's Penguins," a mildly amusing flight of fancy for the family crowd, is far better for its penguins than its Popper. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Fortunately, the movie throws adults a few bones along the way; this is by no means an unpleasant film to watch, and the Ice Age short that runs with it is funny, too. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: The director, Mark Waters, moves things briskly along and lets the charming absurdity of penguin behavior rise to its inherently good-natured heights. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [Carrey's] always "on," even when the character is supposed to be off; by the end of the movie, there isn't a piece of scenery that doesn't bear his teethmarks. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Thanks to plucky performances and some perfectly precious pets, "Mr. Poppers Penguins" provides a pleasant, if obviously packaged, pursuit. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A surprisingly touching, low-key ballad of middle-aged male regret disguised as a kiddie comedy replete with poop and fart jokes and soccer balls launched at Popper's crotch. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A slick, soulless adaptation of the children's book classic... Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Mr. Popper's Penguins is a stupefying dumb family movie proving that penguins have limited charisma as pets. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: What the heck became of Carrey's career as a comic genius? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Everything about the idea of "Mr. Popper's Penguins" sounds lovely, and everything about the actual movie is ugly. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film is just another slice off a very stale loaf, but it's earnest and benign. It's sometimes funny and contains no ingredients that are bad for you, unless you are allergic to sap. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Waters neatly integrates trained birds and computer-generated imagery, but the warm-blooded actors are stuck with a story that refuses to fly. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Carrey looks frozen out of his own movie -- a stiffer and less elastic version of the younger dynamo. He could have used some of that CGI magic himself. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Holy mother of pearl, talk about superficial claptrap! Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Although the mix of real gentoo penguins and CGI tricksters will keep youngsters entertained, we spend a lot of time waiting for the movie to shake a tail feather. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Mr. Popper's Penguins bears almost no resemblance to the classic children's book of the same name. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Following his terrific performance in the R-rated I Love You Phillip Morris, Carrey has turned to a soft PG vehicle, and shows too much strain to make the comedy viable. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: Fervently panders to an under-10 audience with Carrey's main requirement only to mug in a variety of reaction shots to his beaked sidekicks' mischievous hijinks and to provide name-brand legitimacy to a dim and unfunny project. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Carrey, who is something of a CGI peacock himself, is the best thing about the film, which should delight young audiences even as it diverts their adult handlers. Read more