Dear Lord, thank you for the food we are about to eat. Please use your mighty power, to stop the melting of the polar ice caps. Amen.

Mr Popper's Penguins

(2011)

Unlike Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey's made a point of balancing his commercial fare with attempting less obvious popcorn flicks (the most recent example being the very funny I Love You Phillip Morris). This is possibly the most formulaic film he's ever done, and as such it should probably be lambasted (the end scene is especially saccharine).

Except I quite enjoyed it, with its cute anthropomorphic penguins and utterly predictable career-obsessed-divorcee-has-his-life-turned-upside-down-by cute-animals-and-learns-to-make-time-for-his-kids-and-get-back-with-his-ex plot. Mainly because I like Carrey and he invests even the most so-so material with verve. Carla Gugino makes for a very yummy-mummy ex, but the stand out supporting role is Ophelia Lovibond as Popper's assistant Pippi who loads every sentence with words beginning with "P". Also, I'm a sucker for fake slow motion running scenes.

***

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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