Just got back from seeing Mr. Popper's Penguins. The girls and I came out asking......WHY? Why didn't they follow the book? Why did they change it completely?
The only thing that was the same was the fact that Mr. Popper (played by Jim Carey) got a package that contained a penguin. He does turn his apartment into a winter wonderland. And in the end Mr. Popper and the penguins went to the Antarctic. But even those were changed from the book. (The package was from his father who had died, and the entire family went with the penguins to Antarctica.)
In the movie, Mr. Popper is a real estate buyer (almost swindler) and he is divorced, sharing custody of his son and teenage daughter (who is constantly dwelling on some boy she likes).
We were very disappointed because it was nothing like the book. Oh it had funny parts, but it just wasn't the book. So, if you love the book as much as we do, save your money and just skip this movie. We won't be going back to it when it comes to the dollar theatre, and we certainly won't be buying it.
And, oh yeah....it's rated PG. The words (and at least one time, the letters) OMG were said three times. There was potty humor, a hit in a sensitive male area, a made up word "Viagra-tality," and there is a cuss word in the first song of the credits at the end, but if you duck out as soon as the movie is over you can miss that. It could have so easily been a rated G movie.
Thanks for your review. I am not a big movie fan, anyway, and always find myself disappointed by Hollywood versions of books. (Why do I get disappointed? Don't I know by now that Hollywood will mess up every good book?)
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way, Jimmie....I should expect it of Hollywood. I think the reason I was so let down this time is because I had heard they were sticking close to the book. Boy, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Those who have never read the book will enjoy it, and I did laugh several times...it just didn't have the simple charm of the original story.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing ... we've been looking forward to the movie because we loved the book. Doesn't sound like it's worth our time. Maybe we'll just re-read it! Hope you're having a good summer :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the head's up, Celia. I usually check Plugged In, but I hadn't checked it for this movie.
ReplyDeleteElijah doesn't like it when movies stray from major plot/details in a book, so he'd flip out anyway!