If you have read the book, you know that Mr. Popper is a poor house painter who dreams of the Arctic and loves all things Polar exploration. He is delighted to get the penguins in the book. It seems in the movie, Mr. Popper is a businessman who is pretty well off in a slick apartment who spends at least part of the movie trying to get rid of them. And let's just say his family is not eating beans all winter.
And the names? In the book the penguins are named Captain Cook, Greta, Columbus, Victoria, Nelson, Jenny, Magellan, Adelina, Scott, Isabella, Ferdinand, and Louisa.
In the movie, they are named Captain, Nimrod, Stinky, Loudy, Bitey, and Lovey.
How intellectual are today's movie-goers?
Can I stand outside the movie theater and interview people and ask them about the names of the penguins in the book? Do you think they could come up with even a few of references? Huh? Can I?
Look, if I had never read the book I am sure this movie would be perfectly entertaining. I understand the need to modernize old books. I thought they did a pretty good job with Ramona and Beezus. I don't mind that it's been modernized--but Mr. Popper was POOR! And he was well-read. And he was delighted about those penguins.
Which is probably why it is such a delightful book.
I'm skipping it. That is all.
Now, while we are on the subject of movies...I have a question and tomorrow I'll answer it.
What is our standard for deciding which movies we watch as Christians? (annoying made-over-book movies are not the issue here)
And lastly, I just wanted to give God the glory. My friend in real life was hit while driving her van last week. She is pregnant.
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| The inside of her van. She jumped out of the passenger side door. |
And both she and the baby are fine. FINE. A little sore...but safe. Praise God! (The driver who hit them is fine too.)
Praise the LORD momma and baby are fine! My goodness, only our GOD can save life through something so traumatic!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the movie, I didn't even know it was coming out. Uh, I don't really know much of what's out or coming out. I'm so out of the loop. Guess that's good in some respects. Apparently I'm not missing anything! :)
WOW! Praise God all were safe! That's incredible!
ReplyDeleteWe love the book Mr Popper's Penguins. I actually have it checked out right now and noticed we got the "new" version with Jim Carrey from the movie on the cover :-( Thankfully, the text and illustrations are all still the same inside. I hate what they're doing to children's books in movies nowadays!
As far as what the criteria for watching movies is, gosh, it can be so far ranging. I wouldn't say "no R rated" ones, because Passion is R rated, and that is a must-see, IMO. But we always review movies before going to see them - DH won't watch any that have any female nudity (we didn't even go see Soul Surfer because of the amount of skin shown) or graphic "love" scenes. I hate excessive cursing (although, The King's Speech wasn't offensive to me, because of the context)... violence is so/so for me...
But sometimes I get to thinking, "isn't the point whether it glorifies God or not?" I, actually, don't think it has to be a "Christian" film to glorify God, nor does it have to be some dramatic, emotion-filled thing... but I do want it to be something where I come away more aware of God and his Glory... does that make sense?
Sorry for rambling!
I was horrified when I saw the previews,although when I saw it had Jim Carey in it, I wasn't surprised. In general, I don't like that humor but that movie takes a clever, funny book and turns it into 8-year-old-boy humor. My 8 year old son does want to see it although he enjoyed the book.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, it is so hard to teach 8 year old boys that body noises are not inherently funny when that is what is shown on the movies. I suppose at some point before they become adults boys learn that it is inappropriate.
I cant find out this information but one part of the review says it is from his father... I wonder if his father is "supposed" to be Mr. Popper OR Admiral Drake???
ReplyDeleteI am always glad kids read the books before the movie! But unless the reviews are bad we will probably still watch it, my kids are excited! I am hoping they keep it clean! Matt is also excited because the tap! :0)
on the movies.... awaiting your post. :0)
It seems like all of our current media is "brought down to our level". The classics however require us to "rise to their level". As a whole, our society is not well practiced in rising up. It really is a shame.
ReplyDeletePraise the Lord for keeping that mama and baby safe! What a mighty God we serve!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as movies go, my husband and I read reviews or watch video reviews on two different websites. They review the movies based on language, sex/nudity, violence, etc. BUT they also review the worldview of the movie. What the underlying push of the show is. We find this really helpful. So, after reading the reviews, if we feel we need to preview it still, we do. Then we allow our children to watch.
Here are the two sites:
http://americanvision.org/movieology/
http://www.movieguide.org/
I agree with what Erin said up there as well. My husband and I watched How to Train a Dragon, and loved it. It was a little scary for our kids, so they haven't seen it, but we really thought it was great! It really showed taking dominion over the creatures, as God has mandated in scripture for us to do. Aside from the occasional references to the pagan Norse gods, it was wonderful.
Anyway, that's my ramble for today:) Looking forward to what you say tomorrow!
It's not the movies that are a problem for us it's the previews. We will sit down as a family and make a decision about a movie being appropriate....buy our popcorn...sit down...and have our eyes assaulted with the previews for other movies that are not o.k. An example? Going to see Dancing Feet and seeing a preview for Harry Potter...I mean...come on!!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for not wanting to see that movie, if they've messed with it so much and dumbed it down. Oh, your poor friend! Thank God she and the baby are alright.
ReplyDeletePraise God your friend and her baby are safe.
ReplyDeleteHow sad is it that I didn't know the penguin movie was based on a classic children's book?
At least I learned something today!