Mr. Popper's Penguins

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Mr. Popper's Penguins might be the closest Jim Carrey will come to making a third Ace Ventura film.

Not that Carrey's latest character ever gets as boisterous as his beloved pet detective. And his new catchphrase "Ya'absolutely" isn't nearly as memorable as "Alllllrighty then!" But Mark Waters's harmless comedy does allow Carrey the freedom to abandon societal norms and mug with endearing birds in the name of child-friendly entertainment, and he does it without styling his floppy hair into an Olympic-level ski jump or talking out of his butt. Whether that's better or worse is up to you to decide.

Instead of a poor house painter, as the character was in Richard and Florence Atwater's 1938 children's novel, the modern Tom Popper (Carrey) specializes in impossible real estate acquisitions. After convincing skeptical Mr. Gremmins (Jeffrey Tambor) to part ways with Manhattan's famous Flatiron building, Popper is told by his crusty supervisors (expert curmudgeons Philip Baker Hall, Dominic Chianese, and William Charles Mitchell) that he'll only make partner at their firm once regal Mrs. Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury) sells him Tavern On the Green, which has been in her family for ages.

Popper's Monopoly-board exercise is complicated by two related happenings. First, his estranged wife, Amanda (Carla Gugino), requires that he finally spend more time with their children, Janie (Madeline Carroll) and Billy (Maxwell Perry Cotton). And second, Popper's papa -- an absentee explorer of far-away lands -- passes away, leaving his son a penguin that, through the "miracle" of family-film screenwriting, quickly turns into six birds nesting in our protagonist's penthouse.

The dysfunction in Penguins is lightweight, presenting broken families, daddy issues, and a damaged bird egg in bite-sized lessons sculpted for young audiences. My young boys, in particular, were amused by soccer-playing penguins, a waterslide trick in the Guggenheim Museum, and Carrey's verbal interactions with zookeeper Clark Gregg (wait, is Penguins part of the Avengers initiative?!) and secretary Ophelia Lovibond, who speaks in alliteration. Pippi starts 90 percent of her words with the letter "P," which prompted me to think of "P" words that described Popper's Penguins. Let's go with "predictable," "painless," "periodically pleasant" and "poop" -- the latter of which fuels too many of Popper's punchlines for this parent's tastes.

In fact, the alliteration became addictive, so I'll close my Penguins review with one more example and leave it at that. Waters's adaptation of Mr. Popper's Penguins offers adorable animal mayhem that's aided by Carrey's animated antics, which appeal to adolescents and an array of adults asking only for adequate amusement.