Les Secrets des manchots

The fact that people are giving this amazing documentary a lower rating than it deserves, just because they don't like the narrator, is sad. Beautiful pictures and an amazing production showing things that have never been in the filmed before, with footage of the darkest and brightest parts of different species of penguins. Simply lovely.

Maybe Blake Lively could have done a better job with the narration, and that's on National Geographic, but if that makes an almost 10/10 documentary a seven for you, you are overreacting.

I think there were two things that this documentary could have improved on:

1. Length. He could have easily being a five episode documentary, there is so much information that could have been shown more in depth. Still the quality of the three episodes was a 10.

2. Awareness. They mention how human beings have been part of the reason why penguins are an endangered species, but this could have been an opportunity to bring into scale how much damage we are making, who are responsible and what we need to change.

Overall a 9.5 out of 10 documentary but still could have improved just a little bit. I loved every single part of it.

The penguins are beautiful. Blake Lively's voice is not. She sounds like someone's coworker would when you show them a picture of your baby and they think the baby is demonically ugly but can't say it. So bored. So boring. It was like having to clean your ears in a world where all Q-tips are replaced with sandpaper. I don't care about what she does but I hate her for disgracing these innocent penguin's lives with her horrendous vocals.

Anyways I ended up putting it in a Hungarian dub. I don't speak Hungarian but it's better than Blake Lively's stupid voice. No idea what the Hungarian lady is saying but it's great.

Beautifully filmed account of these amazong birds, while also at times giving some insight into how these programmes are filmed.

Narrating anything, but especially wildlife documentaries, is a skill. This one is let down by a narrator you can hear is trying so hard to be quiet and soft, almost whispering. It doesn't sound natural. Unlike Tom Hanks, for example, in the recent Americas series.

Also, to the reviewers upset at seeing the reality of nature, maybe nature documentaries aren't for you. Stick to cartoons. The camera crew absolutely should NOT interfere in nature. They should just film and observe. The whole point is showing nature in its full, and sometimes heartbreaking, glory. It's not a zoo.

I love national geographic and films where I am able to become more knowledgeable about nature and animals. Unfortunately, I was forced to move on and select something else. I actually turned it off. The low narration quality adversely impacted my enjoyment level. I didn't trust the actor selected to promote the dialogue in this film. I love penguins, and was looking forward to watching this film. Then I found out who was narrating it and became very hesitant. I decided to go ahead and try it, but was not able to enjoy it. The producer could have been more careful in the selection of the narrator.

Stopped watching because of the awful narration. I don't recommend this doc. The editing turns simple penguin squabbles into slow-motion "epic showdowns" complete with thunderous drums-because nothing says "life and death struggle" like a flipper slap over a chunk of ice.

They clearly blew the budget on drone shots of Antarctica, because the "plot" (if you can call it that) has all the depth of a snowflake. Or, they had to pay the narrator too much to do much else. By the third act, the repetitive shots of penguins slipping on ice start to feel like unintentional slapstick, and not in a good way.

In summary: If you came for scientific insight or or emotional storytelling, keep waddling. If you want to hear a choir swell while penguins stare at each other... well, even then, you might be disappointed.