There was a time when this story might have involved the Greenberg re-teaming of Ben Stiller and Noah Baumbach. We're thinking that would have been a very different film to the Mr Popper's Penguins** evidenced in this teaser trailer that's just arrived online.
A lot's predictable in this clip of Jim Carrey's latest, from the star's put-upon schtick to the inevitable use of Vanilla Ice on the soundtrack (although that may just be for the trailer and not in the film - it isn't what Carrey and the penguins are actually dancing to). So your charm quota may be filled by the warm-hearted animal antics, or you may shut your browser in annoyance and seek out your Eternal Sunshine DVD.
Richard and Florence Atwater's 1938 children's novel involves a humble housepainter who receives a pair of penguins in the post (all right, enough alliteration), the offspring of which eventually make up the Popper's Performing Penguins travelling circus act.
The Mr Popper of 2011 is a high-powered city suit, who "transforms his apartment into a winter wonderland", and we're sure will learn a new set of values as his life is overrun by fish-eating flightless Antarctic birds. On the plus side though, penguins are undeniably awesome and adorable, and the production seems largely to have opted for the real deal (with some digital trickery here and there), instead of a lot of CGI.
Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury and Philip Baker Hall co-star with Carrey, the script is by Sean Anders and John Morris (Hot Tub Time Machine) and the director is Mark Waters, who helmed **The ****Spiderwick Chronicles and co-produced (500) Days of Summer. Hey, maybe we'll get some of that off-kilter indie romance cred after all. **It's out in the UK on August 5.
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