Pengin haiwei

If this isn't the most adorable film of the year, then I don't know what is. With a beautiful sense of wonder at every moment, brilliant humour, gorgeous animation, a touching emotional core, and an unpredictable mystery, Penguin Highway is one of the biggest surprises I've ever had when it comes to anime, taking fantasy, coming-of-age drama and everything in between and mixing into one immensely entertaining and endlessly delightful movie.

Whatever you're looking for, there's certainly something that you will love about Penguin Highway, and that's testament to the film's incredible depth and diversity of genre, as it goes beyond simple fantasy like some animes, and instead brings both a powerful and riveting emotional story, as well as consistently hilarious humour throughout.

Of all that, it's hard to really pick out what stands out most about Penguin Highway, but what I definitely can't ignore is the film's stunning mystery, which not only proves a hugely entertaining one, but also one that's filled with riveting twists and turns from beginning to end.

A fantasy story filled with wonderment and awe is something that the likes of Studio Ghibli were experts at for decades, but bringing genuine unpredictability into play is something a whole lot more impressive. While the film does a beautiful job at giving you that unparalleled sense of wonder, I was stunned by just how fascinating the central mystery was, and as you follow the diligent Aoyama-kun as he attempts to get to the bottom of why penguins are appearing all over town, the story deepens and deepens to an exceptional extent.

And what's even better is how that side of the story so effortlessly links in with the film's main emotional core, which largely focuses on a coming-of-age story that sees the occasionally precocious Aoyama understand more and more about the world around him - not just through books, but through an incredible and life-changing adventure.

As a result, while the film proves an endlessly entertaining adventure, what really solidifies it as a great piece is the emotional depth it brings to the table. With the wonderful relationship between Aoyama and an older woman at its centre, Penguin Highway is filled to the brim with relatable and heartwarming drama, and as we see the stakes of the investigation rise throughout, the film's emotional power grows accordingly, completely wrapping you up in its wonderful and enthralling world.

While the film excels in its fascinating story and powerful emotional drama, there's always room for the lighter side of things, and Penguin Highway makes no secret about being an immensely adorable film. Apart from the fact that the penguins themselves are insanely cute, the film is full of delightful humour that works brilliantly as a contrast to some of the more theatrical elements.

I was smiling and laughing right the way through here, and thanks to the screenplay's excellent characterisation, as well as a whole host of strong voice performances, you feel so strongly connected to everybody on screen, something that proves enormously effective in making Penguin Highway such a stunning watch.

Overall, I loved every minute of Penguin Highway. It's a hugely entertaining watch, with a surprisingly riveting and unpredictable mystery complemented beautifully by a powerful emotional core and coming-of-age story. Furthered by a brilliant sense of humour, adorable characters, and that typically gorgeous animation that only Japan can produce, it's a film that will have you beaming ear to ear, all the while totally wrapping you up into a deeply engrossed state with its brilliant story.

Alot of questionable moments and a lot of weird moments, a lot of cool and funny moments too, i don't dislike it, and its not amazing, its ok, I think it was a bit too chaotic and weird for me. Stop reading reviews and just go watch the movie already.

I am no critic. I submit scores in IMDb for one reason mostly. I give high scores to recommend a movie I like or vice versa. I really enjoyed this anime. I just lose myself when watching good animes. And that's enough for me to believe something is good or not.

I went in with no idea what the movie was about. I was skeptical since I usually have a tough time enjoying anime films and I worried my fiance and daughter would not enjoy it. It was a fabulous ride. The penguin scenes are both wonderous and fantastical. I left satisfied and wanting to purchase a copy to show others.

Chaos bursts into the carefully built rational little world of Aoyama - in a town far from the ocean, Antarctic penguins appear from nowhere. Of course, this ridiculous event challenges the wunderkind's mind and worldview. He immediately rushed to hypothesize about the causes of the phenomenon - from lost pets or falling out of a zoo van, to mutated crows. However, events take on a completely irrational turn when it turns out that the penguins are created by the Aoyama's beloved Lady (fixing holes in teeth is like fixing holes in the space-time continuum and the Lady does both), and a giant sphere of oceanic water hanging in the air is found in a forest clearing outside the town. The Lady herself does not quite understand who she is, how she creates creatures and asks our little hero to solve this riddle. So Aoyama faces the real Mystery - at the same time his scientific and love interest, which can quench his thirst for knowledge and beauty.

A very peculiar anime that is not quite suitable for a mass audience. But those who will like it, may get such moral, intellectual and aesthetic pleasure from "Penguin Highway", which watching other animated movies will hardly bring. First of all, it should be noted that although this movie is about children, it is not at all for children and not even for most teenagers. Rather, it will resonate with young adults and mature people, especially with those who were fond of or are fond of science fiction, and will immediately establish the roots of "Penguin Highway" in Lem's "Solaris", Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and Heinlein juveniles. Probably fans of Satoshi Kon's surrealistic narration will also like "Penguin Highway", although the drawing and the general mood here are not close to him, but rather to the creations of Studio Ghibli. As if opening the "door into summer", this anime, along the mysterious penguin path, will take you to a childhood full of miracles and aspirations, plunge into the atmosphere of a summer adventure, a fairy tale and a warm ocean of sincere love, accompanying your journey with excellent symphonic music filled with allusions to Bach and Bizet.

For all its magic, "Penguin Highway" is full of subtle psychological observations and sketches related to everyday life: children's curiosity and openness of mind to the new, encouraged by the father of the protagonist - young Aoyama, his little sister's awareness of mortality, Aoyama's inescapable absorption by the vortex of love, when he sits enchanted by the face of the sleeping Lady, feeling joy and marveling every tiny detail that make it perfect, Aoyama's stoicism and gradually acquired ability to understand others, the childish manifestations of Hamamoto's jealousy and Suzuki's love. Such a combination of realism and psychologism with surrealism can lead to the false conclusion that the "Penguin Highway" is a representative of magical realism. But it is not so - this is hard science fiction which raises the question of the limitations of rational knowledge and supplements it with the question of the ethical boundaries of scientific research and the significance of love and morality, their relations with rationality when confronted with the unknown.

The novel (by Tomihiko Morimi) on which this anime is based as well as the anime itself have clear references to Stanislaw Lem's novel "Solaris" (Aoyama even mentions "Stanislaw Syndrome" at the dentist's) which has strict sci-fi narrative, questioning rational cognition. However the Penguin Highway novel was heavily inspired not only by the Lem's novel itself but by the Tarkovsky's interpretation of Solaris in his 1972 art film as well which is full of symbols and metaphors. "Penguin Highway" takes Tarkovsky's vision on the main problem (that the correct solution of the problem of relationship between the subject and the object of scientific research, the way to approach the Mystery, is to treat it not like a mere abstract object, but through empathy and love, applying high moral standards while doing so) and replaces Kris Kelvin (main character) who in the movie represents the right way to treat the Unknown but was tormented by guilt, with Aoyama - pure child with clear conscience. "Penguin Highway" basically deals with the same epistemological problem as "Solaris". This problem of limitation of rational cognition and ethical restrictions of dealing with the unknown is profoundly explained by Tarkovsky in his interview and by C. S. Lewis in "The Abolition of Man".

There is an anecdote told by Aoyama early on in the movie in which he compares the Lady's breasts and his mother's breasts, which are abstractly belong to the same category of objects, but in reality affect him completely differently. In fact that's how aforementioned epistemological problem may be simply illustrated: the subjects of scientific study should not be treated as abstractions, but rather as quite specific phenomena, to each of which, despite the quantitative similarity, a special, qualitatively different attitude should be formed. The object, stripped of its qualitative properties and reduced to mere quantity, is not wholly real.

It would be a mistake to consider "Penguin Highway" a coming of age story. There is no development of Aoyama's character - the anime opens and ends with the pretty much the same speech of the protagonist. In fact "Penguin Highway" represents idea which is opposite to coming of age. It is about returning to innocence, to child-like pure heart, open-mindeness and to the immediate perception of the world. The only scientist (Dr. Kris Kelvin) in the "Solaris" who managed to establish contact with the Ocean did it not through rational observation, but through empathy - he established emotional connection with Solaris through his deceased wife, recreated by Solaris. Yet as her death was his guilt (at least he blamed himself) this connection could not last long as both of them were tortured by Kris' guilt. So the only solution for Kris to reach Solaris was to return to his roots, return to his home and innocence - to childhood. Solaris materialized his dream by creating his old family house and his father on the Ocean's surface - it was clear reference to the "The Return of the Prodigal Son". Tarkovsky's movie begins and ends on Earth, in the protagonist's house.

We can find reference to this in the anime, when the Lady tells Aoyama in his dream that "she has always been on Earth" as well as river which ends where it begins and words that "everything ends and returns to where it started". "If you go far enough, you return to where you started" says the Lady to Aoyama, stating that she is on Earth despite Aoyama's travel to another planet. While saying good bye to him later in the movie, she hints that he'll be able to solve her mystery after becoming astronaut and going to space - "then I want you to come and find me". This also alludes to Kris' returning to home from the space in order to reach his ideal, but in the same way this "returning" of Kris was symbolic as in reality he comes to replica of his home which was artificially recreated by Solaris as Kris at last become able to establish communication with the Ocean through empathy.

Aoyama is virtually Kris which has returned to his childhood, with clear conscience, highly intelligent but still innocent. The Ocean (manifested in the Lady) and Aoyama also established connection not through rationality, but through empathy, through mutual love, which gave common ground to completely alien beings. For Aoyama the same "returning to home", returning to the Ocean by penguin highway (it is a path by which penguins go to and from the ocean), in other words reaching his ideal (the Lady), means to grow up "good adult" not just intellectually, but first of all morally, through realization of limitations of rational cognition. Thus Aoyama's growing up lays through overcoming rational reductionism which in a way means returning to childhood when phenomena precepted immediately as particular and whole. The answer to the Mystery lies out of the reach of scientific approach in the rationally incomprehensible sphere of human spirit and only through devoted love and determined strive for the Lady Aoyama may be able to reunite with her - the Mystery.

However, the complex epistemological message of the "Penguin Highway" will not at all prevent you from enjoying watching this anime without understanding its meaning at all. Many will enjoy the bright, beautifully drawn summer adventure, the feeling of childhood, enchanting music and the atmosphere of a fairy tale, the psychological observations, the relationship between children and parents, not to mention the unusual, humorous and loving relationship between Aoyama and the Lady (however, in order to perceive this unusual relationship, many may need to experience the same level of struggle with stereotypes of thinking and accept openness to the perception of the unknown, as scientists in their study of Solaris). Someone may perceive this anime as a children's fairy tale or a coming of age story, someone as magical realism, a surreal adventure or a first love story - all these will not interfere with enjoying this wonderful masterpiece.