Les Aventures de Youbi le pingouin

Symbol of the creative -and financial- problems of Don Bluth's team between "All Dogs Go To Heaven" until "Anastasia", this animated movie benefits impeccable score and songs and good animation, for a very weak plot.

By the mid 1990s, the career of animator-director Don Bluth had seemed to drop to its all-time low. Before, Bluth had made a series of popular animated films, many which remain beloved today such as "The Land Before Time" (1988), "The Secret of NIMH" (1982), and "An American Tail" (1986). But beginning with "Thumbelina" in 1994, his films seemed to decrease more and more in quality and popularity and one of the many unfortunate entries is 1995's box office bomb "The Pebble and the Penguin", a film that didn't attract audience members beyond parents and children under the age of seven. Frankly, the latter are the only audience members I can comprehend taking enjoyment out of this rather bland animated feature.

The story is absurd. The film stars a poorly-drawn, stammering, and chubby penguin named Hubie (voiced by Martin Short) who falls in love with a female penguin with a surprisingly healthy flower on her head (voice by Annie Golden). SORT OF like in real life, penguins present their bride-to-bes with a pebble as a substitute for a ring. But when Hubie is swept away by the current, he teams up with a lone rockhopper (James Belushi) with a dream of flying and they race against time to return to Antarctica before it's too late. The reasons why they could be too late is one of many underdeveloped elements of this weak story that would still be weak even if they were there.

It becomes very clear very early on why this animated children's musical does not and will not work for anybody older than say six or seven years of age. It just does not have any of the qualities that are required for a good animated feature. Number one, the film looks bad on account of a very poor drawing style. The animation in this film is very cartoony (even as far as animated films go); it's dark, gloomy, there is no vibrancy in the colors, and on top of that, the design of the film and the elements in it are universally droll and laughable. Take for instance, the penguins who star in the film. With only a few background exceptions, every single penguin looks absolutely nothing at all like a bird. Hubie, for example, looks absurdly ridiculous with wide cheeks, a stubby beak, big eyes, and that preposterous hat that he wears wherever he goes. Combined with his hand-like "flippers" he looks like Chris Farley in a penguin suit. Result: he's an ugly, poorly-drawn cartoon character. But the most absurd-looking and absurdly-designed character is the evil penguin, Drake, who frankly looks nothing at all like a penguin. He's a muscle-man wearing a penguin mask. He's got a chest broader than that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and teeth larger than the teeth of the leopard seals and killer whales that serve as the film's predators. Basically, he's a two-dimensional, recycled villain. He lives in a cave shaped like a skull, he wears a cape, laughs a lot, and gets mad when people laugh with him. Result: who cares? And what's also bad, and maybe worse, is that this is an animated musical and there's not a single noteworthy or memorable song to found anywhere within its running time. The opening hymn was harmless—not memorable, but harmless. But after that, the songs became duller and duller and there was one in particular that had me grimacing all the way through. It's the moment that viewers press the fast-forward button for whenever it comes up.

I felt "The Pebble and the Penguin" was lame all around save for the very few moments when Hubie and the rockhopper penguin Rocko are placed in peril at the jaws of leopard seals and killer whales, who were thankfully, given no dialogue and treated as animals instead of cartoon characters. But in a way, for this reason, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this movie to children. This is the reason. The film displays killer whales are the natural predator of the penguins. My concern is that children familiar with "Free Willy" (1993) may be offended or downhearted by seeing their favorite denizen of the sea portrayed as a bloodthirsty carnivore. The leopard seal was a better antagonist and was more funny seeing as how his jaws opened wider than a rattlesnake's and how he appeared to smile while growling. But the point really is, these moments with the predators—and there are only a few—are the only interesting moments. And they're not enormously interesting, mind you.

Bottom line, I cannot recommend this to anybody below the age of seven. My advice: if you have children around that page, rent it for them. They might enjoy it.

Genre: Penguins, animation.

Main characters: Hubie, Marina, Rocko and Drake the penguins. I feel for most of these characters and I like them very much indeed. I also like Drake, the baddie – but I do not feel for him.

Actors: Martin Short (Hubie), Shani Wallis (Narrator), Annie Golden (Marina), James Belushi (Rocko) and Tim Curry (Drake).

What happens: All of the Adelie penguins on a big iceberg are ready to mate, finding their pebbles to give to the penguin they love so they can mate. There is one rather clumsy and dreamy penguin called Hubie, who is in love with one particular penguin – but someone else loves her as well…

Message: It's not the gifts that you give your love that matter, but the giver.

My thoughts: I like this film rather a lot. I like the actors, the animation, the characters, the songs and the adventure of the story. The jokes are also amusing and I wouldn't be surprised if at least one person who didn't like this film liked at least one joke from it. The actors are well-picked and many people may like this film JUST because of them – as there are many famous ones (including James Belushi and Tim Curry). The animation is good, I especially like the backgrounds – sometimes it seems like you are going across the sea with the penguins! The characters are very lovable and have distinct personalities, not subtle though, which is one slight problem with this film. I especially like the characters of Hubie and Rocko, some may think otherwise. I also really like the songs, there is an amusing one, there are two romance ones and there is one "bad guy song" that we all have to have in a children's film! Well, we don't have to, but "Don't Make Me Laugh" is fun anyway, good singing from Tim Curry. The adventure of the film is very engaging and it keeps you focused on the film.

One thing I am not so keen about this film is that it's pretty average. Average acting – and the plot is quite average. Otherwise – I think this is a very good animated family film!

Recommended to: Families who would like to sit down to a cartoon film (maybe over some Haribo or a box of Popcorn), children who like penguins and cartoon and grown-ups who like penguins and cartoon films. Enjoy! :-)

Looking back at Bluth's previous entries from the 90s, I was beginning to think about what I think about this one. Well, just say that when I was a little kid, I seemed to enjoy it, but as a young adult, I'm gonna call this movie decent. So, some of you are wondering why a 80%? Here's the reason why.

Here are some letdowns.

Letdown #1: The story was just... weird for a movie about penguins despite it's credit for a romance between two main characters. There were some things that were unexplained like "Why do penguins have clothing and hands to begin with?" and "Where did the three non-penguin birds came from?".

and Letdown #2: The songs made by Barry Manilow (despite it's decent music score from Mark Watters) weren't that bad. "Now and Forever" (pop song included), "Sometimes I Wonder" and reprise, which was hear-rendering, and "Don't Make Me Laugh" were enjoyable, but "Good Ship Misery" was badly sung, although "Looks Like I Got Me A Friend" has a decent melody.

That's it for the letdowns. Now for the highlights. The animation is very good, the character designs aren't that bad, and the voice acting is entertaining with the likes of Martin Short, Annie Golden, James Belushi, and Tim Curry. The characters are likable too. Hubie is great and his romance with the beautiful Marina was so sweet and cute altogether. Rocko never fails to amuse me with his comedic moments and his comic-relief voice and the villain named Drake is great and I think that he totally frightened me the first time I saw him as a kid.

So, is this movie weird? Well, kind of, but once you compare it to A Troll In Central Park, it's not a bad movie. It's just a decent and very cute penguin movie and it's worth watching for kids who like decent entertainment.

8/10

Now I'm a huge Don Bluth fan, so it's no wonder I love all of his films to death, with the exception of Rock-A-Doodle-Doo, which had potential but dived like a nailed duck than sang like a rooster.

Back on topic, I felt that "Penguin" is a vastly underrated film. The basic story is that Hubie, our shy, lovestruck hero, must make his way back to his love Marina after being left for dead by the jealous Drake, whose also got his eye on Marina. Accompanied by the strong and hyper-active Rocko, Hubie braves the waters to make the 3000 mile journey and give her his unique "engagement pebble" before his love is banished forever.

The adventure itself is everything I want in this type of movie: Action. Hubie and Rocko's flights from the numerous seals and whales who see our fair duo as an appetizer are always enough to hold my attention, because it was fast. And the faster and livelier the animation, the better for me.

But of course, the slower moments made me like this movie also. In these scenes, we see the birds' true personality emerge. Hubie is this shy and timid thing in the beginning...Quite lame actually (Who calls anyone a "big bully" anymore?) And in the end, he's brave and not afraid to speak his mind. In fact, he learns to fight and defend himself, taught by the tough-guy Rocko, who begins showing compassion and friendship for Hubie as the movie goes on. He also shares his dream with the penguin: To be the first penguin to fly, a cute little personality quirk to this diamond in the rough.

It has your typical Bluth animation: Fluid, bright, lively, and Disney-like, and that's the main thing I've come to love from animation produced during the bygone era. Just plain beautiful in all aspects.

The songs are pretty charming... once they wear on you. After all, this is a movie intended more so for 7,8,9,10 year olds, so these songs aren't "Lion King" material. But I've come to find something I like about each. For instance, Hubie's jokes in "Looks Like I Got Me a Friend" are lame... but I've come to love that about the cute lil' penguin!! All songs are acceptable, excluding "Misery." Waaaay too childish. But the score was absolutely breathtaking.

To me, this movie only had one setback: Drake, the aforementioned villain. He's not the most likable villain at all and only held my attention with one or two threats, and a few lines from his song "Don't Make Me Laugh." He's more annoying than anything else, and made me all the more happier Hubie kicked his white-and-black behind.

In conclusion, "Penguin" has been adored by me since the first time I laid eyes on these quirky birds. Given this is a children's movie really makes me appreciate it even more. The music, main characters, action scenes and character development of Rocko and Hubie were perfect. The villain and a few songs were the only drawback to a wonderful movie. Don Bluth is one of the best, independent animators of the 80s-90s and he has kept his rep very well.