The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin

Everyone's heard the story of Cinderella, but you've probably never seen it acted out by spheniscids.* That's just what happens in "The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin". Janet Perlman's Academy Award-nominated short lets the Antarctic fowl do what we tend to see in the various incarnations of the story. Fun stuff. Another credit to Canada's National Film Board.

*Spheniscidae is the taxonomic family to which penguins belong.

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, is a sweet, gentle and affectionate spin on the Cinderella fairy tale, as done with penguins! A production of the National Film Board of Canada, the short displays a true fondness for the source material while still having its own take on things. Most wholeheartedly recommended.

This is quite a fun take on the standard "Cinderella" fairy tale, only it proves that it's not just we humans that can be unkind to each other. This one has us take pity on the servant in a house full of penguins who get all excited when invited to the palace for a ball. Of course, poor old "Cinderella-guin" is to be left at home, but luckily some magic is duly worked and the tale of love's young dream follows it's usual, more blubbery, path. The birds make for good substitutes for the people, especially when the pursers have to find a webbed-foot to fit a specially designed webbed-slipper. It's quickly paced and brightly animated with a jolly score to keep it moving along without the need for dialogue for an entertaining ten minutes.

Carefully crafted by Canadian animators to be language neutral (i.e. no words are used at all, and credits are in both English and French), this is a very cute retelling of the Cinderella story with penguins playing all characters. Perfect for penguin lovers (like me) and active kids with short attention spans (it doesn't dawdle). Its short length and language neutrality may also make it ideal for ESL or multilingual classroom environments.

The interesting concept of some quite remarkably drawn penguins make the classic story fun. The bold colors and neat images are fun. The story follows everything except there is a flipper instead of a glass slipper. No words are spoken and it doesn't matter.