Penguins

Have you ever wanted to watch penguins dancing romantically to REO Speedwagon? If so, this is for you.

This was (mostly) a fun little documentary from Disneynature. At 76 minutes in length, it moved pretty fast. It often made me smile or laugh, and featured really good use of music. I'll forever think of an awkward penguin called Steve when I hear Whitesnake in future.

The whole documentary is centered around our mate Steve. He always seemed to be late to wherever he was going - including the birth of his kids. In some ways, I could relate to Steve a bit too much.

Whether it be 100 mile round trips for food, or annoying neighbours stealing precious rocks - Penguins shows the life of a penguin is really damn hard. I couldn't help but feel bigger picture stuff going on - with life itself feeling like a tumultuous ice flow filled with problematic leopard seals at every turn. No, just me?

Ed Helms was annoying as narrator at times - it took a little adjusting to once he began voicing the penguins themselves. And if I had kids? I probably wouldn't show them this until a certain age. There was some scary, anxiety-inducing events in parts. Such is life.

Leave it to Stevie, he can get the job done. He's a first-year dad sharing with his lovely spouse the challenging responsibility of raising two, growing youngsters. To get to that junction, Steve had to build a foundation to cultivate his household. He has to travel to the right location, build and protect his home, and wait to meet his possibly life-long partner. You might imagine I'm talking about young suburbans in America or elsewhere in global communities. They are penguins, this is their story with Steve taking the lead as narrator Ed Helms guides along in the icy frontier. With a general title, Penguins is a whimsical and clever take on a well-known delightful film animal. You might recall the 2005 documentary, March of the Penguins which provided a more realistic perspective of these birds life. They have been the subject of some fictional live action and animation movies. This here is familiar penguin material, the filmmakers' awareness prompt them to keep it entertaining. With a fish-full of life lessons without preaching, Penguins relates to young and older ones the struggles of raising a family with less intensity of the March of Penguins, and with more fun. There are many humorous moments, some a bit strained but not irritating. Steve and his wife, Adelene face hardships feeding their children, from hungry predators, and harsh weather. It is a choice family film and a rare full length G-rated movie. I viewed it with a small audience of children with their guardians and elderly persons. The photography is spacious and exceptional. The storyline might push its limits a bit, Penguins was a pleasure to watch and wonder about these tuxedo fur characters.

Now this is how you make documentaries for kids: cute critters, an engaging story, and charming narration/character commentary from the quirky Ed Helms. With that said, it's great for kids and even adults, but my interest didn't stay sustained for a very long time. It could've been because I was tired but I felt like it went in circles after awhile. Still, a good one.

B-

I guess I watched all the penguins documentaries around .. This one was about a new species of penguins in which I've never seen a documentary about before .. Adelie penguins .. they are a lot different than emperor penguins and they are so very interesting to follow them around, the narrative was pretty funny with a cute little script which made the movie a lot funnier than a documentary should be, but I didn't mind that at all !

"Penguins" (2019 release; 76 min.) is the latest documentary from Disneynature. As the movie opens, we are reminded that this is the 10th anniversary of the Disneynature movies. This latest one brings us the life and times of Steve, an Adelie penguin. He is 5 years old, about 2 ft. tall, and about 15 lbs. As we join Steve, he is on his way to the very spot where he was born, but now looking to court a mate and start a family. This is easier said than done, as he fights for the right nesting spot, which he builds with rocks that he collects. Then a potential mate shows interest... At this point we are 10 min. int the movie, but to tell you more of the plot (such as it is) would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is directed by Disneynature veteran Alastair Fothergill ("African Cats", "Bears") and Jeff Wilson. When I heard of this release, my initial reaction was "haven't we seen this before in the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins?". Turns out that concern is unjustified. "March of the Penguins" looks at the much larger emperor penguin, whereas this documentary follows the Adelie pengiun. There is a funny scene in the beginning where Steve accidentally ends up in a colony of emperor penguins and he gets slapped around... by baby emperor penguins (who are still larger than Steve). Once that was cleared up, the only thing that mattered to me was to see how spectacular the footage was, and there I was not disappointed. In fact, the footage is outstanding, and on top of that the film makers lucked out (if that is the right wording--probably they persisted and were rewarded) with some amazing plot twists--I really don't want to say anything more so as not to spoil). Just watch!

"Penguins" opened in theaters a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to seeing it this weekend, yes the same weekend where "Avengers Endgame" came out and dominated the box office (more than 90% of the weekend's business--but I have no interest in seeing it). The Sunday early evening screening where I saw "Penguins" was attended so-so--about 10-12 people, mostly adults I might add. If you love nature documentaries, you cannot go wrong with this. Of course I encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.