Mr Popper's Penguins.(Movie review)

(From Newcastle Evening Chronicle)

(PG, 94 mins) Family/Comedy. Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Madeline Carroll, Maxwell Perry Cotton, Ophelia Lovibond, Clark Gregg, David Krumholtz, Philip Baker Hall, Dominic Chianese, William C Mitchell. Director: Mark Waters. Contains violence.

BASED on the children's book by Richard and Florence Atwater, Mr Popper's Penguins is a cutesy tale of errant fathers, emotionally damaged offspring and feathered friends, whose fates collide in wintry New York City.

A Christmas release would have better suited Mark Waters's whimsical confection, when the lashings of sticky sweet sentiment are easier to swallow, and …