March of the Penguins

AKA - Marche de l'empereur, La

My wife and I went to see this film last night.
If you enjoy nature at all, then I think you will enjoy this film.

With spectacular views of a place on earth that most people will never see with their own eyes, the "March of the Penguins" follows the life-cycle of the Emperor penguins of Antarctica. With their regal appearance and wobbly walk, these creatures totally misrepresent their ability to survive one of the harshest climates in the world.

The stark contrast between the blue and white ice encrusted landscape and the black, white and yellow dappled penguins is breathtaking in numerous scenes. The steps that these creatures go through to propogate the survival of the species and care for their young is amazing. Although seemingly ill-equipped to endure such brutal conditions, these adult penguins go to extraordinary lengths to provide and care for their offspring.

The film clocks in at an hour and twenty minutes. It's hard to justify paying full price for such a short adventure, but this film puts up a good argument for it. Thankfully, we went to a "rush hour show" and paid the discounted price of $6. I think that even if we had paid full ticket price to see this film we would have still walked away satisfied.

I learned quite a bit about penguins that I had never known before. (To qualify that statement, let me say that my wife and I have spent quite a bit of time in the "Penguin and Puffin Coast" exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo and have spoken with several park rangers about them.) The exchange of the newly laid egg from mother to father was quite interesting. The length of time that the father cared for the egg was mind-boggling. The way the two parents traded places to walk for food and return to feed the baby was totally amazing.

While the film tends to anthropomorphize the penguins on several occasions, it is still a great film. The story of these penguins is easy to appreciate visually. Morgan Freeman provides the narrative in the United States version and does a fine job not hindering the images being played out in front of you.

The film is slowly making its way into more theaters, which I think is a great development. It's rated G, so feel free to take the children. Be warned however that unless your children are totally fascinated with penguins, they may have a hard time focussin on the film for the duration. Much of the action is subtle and the storyline is more of a drama than an action film.

At a time when Hollywood is force-feeding the masses with explosions, lots of skin and thread-bare plots, it is refreshing to see a film that allows the natural elements and creatures of this world take center stage and provide their own type of action and drama.