Love and Material Success are inseparable
A review on Mark Water's movie "Mr. Popper's Penguins"
Samuel Seung Min Kim
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| A picture of Jim Carrey |
So, lately, I have happened to watch Carrey's most recent piece of work named "Mr. Popper's Penguins." I was fascinated by the movie poster, especially by the fact that Jim Carrey was the one acting. I also expected some environmental issue being mentioned inside the movie, as penguins are one of those animals that symbolize global warming along with polar bears.
And the movie wasn't bad. Though environmental issues were not dealt as I expected it to be, Carrey was a great actor as always, thus making the movie more impressive than it would have been other actors. His way of acting seemed to fit well with the genre of the movie, which was a comedy with a little tinge of drama.
At the start of the movie, Thomas Popper seems to be a guy with an indifferent atmosphere surrounding him; he is no longer a boy who used to be fascinated by the stories of his dad's adventure. The episodes that his father had virtually "broadcasted" to him through the microphone now means nothing to him but a matter he could possibly utilize in persuading someone to sell his lifetime's reminiscence.
However, as he meets Van Gundi and begins to look for the "worth" he has as a human, as a man with warm memories and a hot heart, he starts to change. The 6 penguins are the main helpers of such changes, as the mind of Thomas Popper that used to be captured by the obsession for material success melts as his love for the penguins burns. (It's interesting to see how he pours "snow" inside his apartment as his "hot" love for the penguins grow.)
And as the love of Popper grows, the relationship he has with other people, the "networth," also improves. His ex-wife starts to like him (the scene of the two people skating in the ice rink efficiently portrays this), he starts to understand the feeling that his little child's emotional conflict in puberty, and the penguins start to love him back.
Such rise of love and humanity of Mr. Popper reaches its peak at the end of the movie, when the penguins decide to choose their father (Popper) over their basic instinct to pursue food. At the same time, Van Gundi realizes that Mr. Popper (who was previously a jerk trying to allure an old lady with hallucinations that he had no affinity towards) has become a person that she has been looking for, she awards him with her permission to sell the Tavern on the Green. In exchange, Mr. Popper decides to not destroy the tavern as a place that gave him the warm heart he once used to have.
Perhaps, the director in this movie, Mark Waters, was trying to teach the watchers of this movie a lesson. A lesson that "love" and "humanity" are not something separable from "material success." Many people around the world seems to forget about this. Even Steve Jobs did; he abandoned his daughter because he had to concentrate on his company affairs. It costed the wealthy CEO the great pain of cancer to learn the preciousness of bonds between family members.
Before writing this review, while I was doing a little bit of pre-research, I found out originally Ben Stiller was supposed to act as Thomas Popper. I am not trying to degrade his capacity as an actor, but I take a careful guess that "Mr. Popper's Penguins" wouldn't have been able to thoroughly express its theme if such a serious-looking man like Stiller played the Popper.
And the movie wasn't bad. Though environmental issues were not dealt as I expected it to be, Carrey was a great actor as always, thus making the movie more impressive than it would have been other actors. His way of acting seemed to fit well with the genre of the movie, which was a comedy with a little tinge of drama.
At the start of the movie, Thomas Popper seems to be a guy with an indifferent atmosphere surrounding him; he is no longer a boy who used to be fascinated by the stories of his dad's adventure. The episodes that his father had virtually "broadcasted" to him through the microphone now means nothing to him but a matter he could possibly utilize in persuading someone to sell his lifetime's reminiscence.
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| Mr. Popper dancing with his penguins |
And as the love of Popper grows, the relationship he has with other people, the "networth," also improves. His ex-wife starts to like him (the scene of the two people skating in the ice rink efficiently portrays this), he starts to understand the feeling that his little child's emotional conflict in puberty, and the penguins start to love him back.
Such rise of love and humanity of Mr. Popper reaches its peak at the end of the movie, when the penguins decide to choose their father (Popper) over their basic instinct to pursue food. At the same time, Van Gundi realizes that Mr. Popper (who was previously a jerk trying to allure an old lady with hallucinations that he had no affinity towards) has become a person that she has been looking for, she awards him with her permission to sell the Tavern on the Green. In exchange, Mr. Popper decides to not destroy the tavern as a place that gave him the warm heart he once used to have.
Perhaps, the director in this movie, Mark Waters, was trying to teach the watchers of this movie a lesson. A lesson that "love" and "humanity" are not something separable from "material success." Many people around the world seems to forget about this. Even Steve Jobs did; he abandoned his daughter because he had to concentrate on his company affairs. It costed the wealthy CEO the great pain of cancer to learn the preciousness of bonds between family members.
Before writing this review, while I was doing a little bit of pre-research, I found out originally Ben Stiller was supposed to act as Thomas Popper. I am not trying to degrade his capacity as an actor, but I take a careful guess that "Mr. Popper's Penguins" wouldn't have been able to thoroughly express its theme if such a serious-looking man like Stiller played the Popper.
My rating on this movie:
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