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FILM REVIEW: Green Lantern vs. Mr. Popper's Penguins

Ryan Reynolds/Jim CarreyRyan Reynolds in Green Lantern, left, and Jim Carrey in Mr. Popper's Penguins. (Warner Bros./20th Century Fox)

This weekend, two Canucks go mano a mano in a battle of the box office. It's the handsome charmer versus the clown king. Ryan Reynolds stars in the superhero story Green Lantern, while Jim Carrey takes on the screen adaptation of the kid lit tale Mr. Popper's Penguins. Both stars have something to prove, so we're pitting the high-concept properties against each other in the ultimate, early-summer skirmish.

Green Lantern
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Tale of the tape Ryan Reynolds is trying to leap into the big leagues with Green Lantern. As People Magazine's sexiest dude, Mr. Abs-a lot is already the go-to-guy for rom coms. However, his man-in-a-box thriller Buried was a box-office bust. G.L. is an attempt to establish Reynolds's own superhero shingle and convince Lalaland of his leading-man status. Jim Carrey was once Hollywood's favourite king of comedy, breaking records with his salary and box office results, but audiences haven't warmed up to Carrey's more recent attempts to get serious. Mr. Popper is a return to the animal antics of the past and is his first non-animated big-screen appearance in years.
Premise Hal Jordan was a boy who lost his father in a crash. He grew up to be an arrogant test pilot who, when a purple alien with a magic ring crashes onto Earth, is chosen as the planet's protector: a Green Lantern. Hal flies to the G.L. home world of Oa, where he trains to fight an evil, stinky, yellow cloud called Parallax. Oh, and Peter Saargard's head explodes. Tom Popper was a little boy who lost his father and grew up to be an arrogant real estate developer. One day, someone sends him some penguins in the mail. The divorced Dad decides to raise them in his Manhattan apartment to reconnect with his kids.
Costume Green Lantern wears a glowing, computer-generated outfit, appearing like an anatomical muscle man dipped in day-glow green. Popper is outfitted in the typical wardrobe of a successful urbanite: slick suits and wool scarves in a mix of greys and charcoals.
Catchphrase In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Y'absolutely (It's no "Alrightly, then" but it's something).
Classy cameo Geoffrey Rush appears as Hal Jordan's mentor Tomar-Re, an evolved fish with a regal accent. Rush's cultivated tones add an air of sophistication to the out-of-this world portion of the film. Angela Lansbury appears as Mrs. Van Gundy, the owner of New York's iconic Tavern on the Green. It's a charming appearance from a classic star of stage and screen.
Colourful characters The Green Lantern corps includes the snout-nosed Kilowog and the mildly malevolent Sinestro Six Gentoo penguins: Captain, Loudy, Bitey, Stinky, Lovey and Nimrod.
CGI to reality ratio What isn't CGI? The entire home world of Oa, the creatures, the costumes, the glowing green weapons -- we haven't seen this much silicon on screen since Avatar. Mr. Popper's Penguins does use real animals, but the more difficult segments were achieved with computer-generated critters.
Scene-stealer Blake Lively is about as convincing as possible as the jet pilot/business executive Carol Ferris. Ophelia Lovibond is perfectly precocious as Pippi, the always alliterating assistant.
Most unbelievable moment When the evil entity Parallax begins causing trouble on Earth, Hal zips back to Oa. For training? No. Re-enforcements? Nope. He makes a speech and then returns to kill the creature no one could stop. Manhattan's climate-controlled condos are top-notch, but creating an arctic environment -- complete with skating rink and snow banks -- inside one does seem a stretch.
Direction Martin Campbell, the director of The Mask of Zorro and Casino Royale, serves up a heavy heaping of superhero schlock. We're talking George Clooney as Batman bad. A hollow, candy-coloured carnival ride that's straining so hard to set up a sequel, Green Lantern is nothing but a hodge-podge of clichés. Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, keeps things light and semi-sweet. Sure, there are penguin-poop jokes for the kids, but Waters finds a way to bring the children's book into the 21st century while keep the original spirit intact.
Verdict Reynolds, the king of the quips, has some heroic heavy lifting to do in Green Lantern. Hal Jordan was originally written as a square-jawed man without fear. Reynolds plays him as a smirking Peter Parker-type, while the story hammers the fear theme into flat, cinematic mush. In Popper's Penguins, Carrey keeps the mugging to a minimum and turns in a low-key performance as a father in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Whether it's his age or the fact that he went through a break-up himself recently, there's a surprising level of humility to the funny man this time and looks good on him.
Rating Two dimming lanterns out of five. Three-and-a-half snow cones out of five

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