March of the Penguins (2005)

by Julie Gentry | More from this Blogger

11 Dec 2006 04:00 AM

March of the Penguins is a National Geographic Feature Film. As you would expect from National Geographic, the cinematography is spectacular. Fourteen months of footage shot in Antarctica reduced to the finest 85 minutes. It's breathtakingly beautiful. Unfortunately, the story line does not hold as much excitement. Everything that makes a Hollywood blockbuster is there: action, suspense, sex (well, penguin "mating"), and drama. But twenty minutes into the film, most kids will start to fidget. By thirty minutes, the majority will be ready to leave. Few will be able to sit through the penguins' whole journey to their breeding grounds. The movie's tagline is "In the harshest place on Earth, love finds a way." It's a romantic thought, but watching penguins mating isn't really romantic. It's uncomfortable. Uncomfortable like the time when my then 6-year old wanted to know why that butterfly had four wings. The movie also occasionally anthropomorphizes the Emperor Penguins, trying to tug at the heartstrings as if they are people making conscious thought rather than animals following instinct. Yes, the baby penguins are adorable; yes, you want them to succeed; yes, you want to feel sorry for the males left to guard the eggs while the females go to eat. But we're not involved with them. We don't find common ground. Narrator Morgan Freeman does a stellar job with the voiceover. Still, Penguins is best viewed in the background, without sound, as a sort of inspirational video. Penguins generated quite a bit of excitement when it won an Oscar for Best Documentary. Yet despite the hype, it's not really a blockbuster movie. It's a documentary. A well-done documentary, yes, but still a documentary. If your children are part of the Nintendo-generation, it may move a little too slowly for them. If they're young enough that they're not seeking that constant stimulation, Scamper The Penguin may not be as beautiful because it's a cartoon, but the story line is much more entertaining! Julie's Rating: 2 stars MPAA Rating: G Cautions: Violent penguin fighting, predatory bird behavior Appropriate for: Children with well-developed attention spans, budding naturalists

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Julie is affectionately known as GoGo Mama to her friends since she seems to always be out and about.

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Libby Pelham (12880) 11 Dec 2006 09:32 AM

I loved this documentary, but the lost eggs, frozen babies and other dead penguins made it hard for me to watch. Yes, I know death is a part of life, blah, blah, blah and kids need to learn about it, but I had "Old Yeller" flashbacks - LOL!

Julie Gentry (5915) 15 Dec 2006 10:43 PM

I agree with you, Libby! I'm the type that I ended "Where the Red Fern Grows" when he wins the prize. My kids have no idea that the dog dies :-).

Libby Pelham (12880) 23 Dec 2006 09:31 AM

LOL - me too Julie. I can take fake human death on film just fine for the most part (well, I did bawl at the end of Phenomenon), but fake animal death just always makes me cry :-)

Laura S (663) 30 Dec 2006 09:51 PM

Hmmm. We have this movie at home. I have to admit, I missed a good part of it because I fell asleep. I'll have to play it again and see what I missed.