Jim Carrey is an Accessory to Literary Murder in 'Mr. Popper's Penguins'

Since 1940, the American Humane Society has monitored the use of animals on television and movie sets, ensuring, as their disclaimer says, that "No Animals Were Harmed" during the production. Evidently, that same rigorous monitoring doesn't cover the blatant murder of the literary birds in the big screen adaptation of "Mr. Popper's Penguins."

Jim Carrey may not have planned the murder, but he definitely is an accessory to the crime. Generations of young readers have enjoyed the literary adventures of Mr. Popper, his family and twelve penguins, passing that story on to their children. Created by Richard and Florence Atwater, "Mr. Popper's Penguins" is still popular today and available for download on the Kindle.

The original story focuses on a housepainter obsessed with the Antarctic. Due to the seasonal nature of his work, Mr. and Mrs. Popper have to count their pennies in the winter and serve beans for practically every meal in the off-season. The closest Mr. Popper gets to traveling is reading books and listening to shortwave broadcasts from famous explorers.

Things change, however, when Mr. Popper receives a live penguin from a well-known explorer and another from an aquarium in a nearby town. Despite their meager means, Mr. Popper and his family convert the house into a place suitable for penguins, including modifications to the icebox and the basement.

With a screenplay produced by no less than four screenwriters, director Mark Waters commits the brutal murder of this children's classic under the guise of creating a family comedy. Jim Carrey's Mr. Popper is a self-centered, divorced father of two with serious daddy issues. Popper grew up constantly waiting for his father, an explorer, to come home from his latest expedition. Over time, Popper becomes middle-aged and somewhat bitter.

Upon his death, Popper's father ships a live penguin to his now-grown son. Unlike his literary counterpart, this Mr. Popper is less-than-thrilled about keeping an aquatic bird in his swank Manhattan apartment. When five more penguins arrive by air freight, the film turns into one extended joke about penguin poop.

Waters and Carrey muddy the movie even more through an unnecessary subplot about Tavern on the Green, the now-closed landmark restaurant in New York City's Central Park. Currently operating as a visitor's center, entrepreneurs like Donald Trump have presented their plans to renovate and reopen Tavern on the Green as a restaurant. "Mr. Popper's Penguins" shows Popper trying to buy the property for his bosses, who will tear down the landmark structure.

As a comedy, "Mr. Popper's Penguins" is passable, but it shows what happens when screenwriters and directors with no emotional attachment to the source material put a Hollywood spin on a beloved book. Instead of a bonehead comedy with Jim Carrey, why not cast someone like Tom Hanks or Forrest Whitaker and keep the character a real family man? That would certainly have made a better movie than one about the gastrointestinal processes of penguins.

As Hollywood discovers more and more literary gems hidden in the children's section of the public library, here's hoping that the American Library Association sets up their own monitoring division to prevent the senseless cinematic murder of even more beloved characters.

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