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Mark Waters is Directing Jim Carrey in 'Mr. Popper's Penguins'

by Ethan Anderton
August 20, 2010
Source: Deadline

Back in June we heard that after Noah Baumbach and Ben Stiller left the adaptation of the classic children's book Mr. Popper's Penguins, director Mark Waters (of Mean Girls, Freaky Friday) and Jim Carrey were rumored to be the next collaborators on the project. At the time nothing was certain, but now Deadline has confirmed that rumor as fact. Honestly, this doesn't sound as promising as a Baumbach led children's story, but Fox probably wants the big box office numbers of Alvin and the Chipmunks rather than another Fantastic Mr. Fox. Well, with two news stories in one day, at least Jim Carrey is making himself busy again.

If you don't recall, the 1938 children's book in question follows a man who receives a penguin from an Arctic explorer one day. He then gets a female penguin from the zoo and shazam, he ends up with 12 of the tuxedo-wearin' cold-climate birds. But when the penguins start to eat him out of house and home, Mr. Popper forms Popper's Performing Penguins, a touring stage act that causes mayhem at every stop. Carrey's exaggerated physical comedy and charismatic screen presence surely gives him the right fuel for this kind of story, but I can't help but think this will only be a low-brow family film because of that. But I was pleasantly surprised by both Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, so maybe this won't be so bad after all. What do you guys think?

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