March of the Penguins

A friend highly recommended this film and multiple times a day t.v. ads encouraged me to "Walk Don't Run To See 'March of the Penguins'", so on August 6 2005, I attended the film's 4:20pm showing at Coral Ridge Mall.

Opening to panoramic views of the coldest continent on Earth (Antarctica), the camera slowly pans to show the emergence of Emperor Penguins from the water--the last surviving inhabitants of this destitute tundra. At age 5 and older in March of each year, the Emperor Penguins march in a single line 70 miles to where they were born amidst hardship and tragedy to bring new life into the world. Traversing the cold and bitter land, taking a different route each year, they still end up at this same destination where the ice is thick enough to withstand the melting which will occur later in the year and where the ice sheets surrounding the valley protect the spot from the harshest winds.

Their odyssey to find a mate and procreate is very amazing. Voiced by Morgan Freeman, the documentary includes many unique and interesting facts about the penguins and their annual ritual, lending an appreciation toward how these resilient creatures manage to survive in such unhospitable circumstances.

As a documentary, the movie is very good, however, the footage itself is lacking due to being grainy. Perhaps, taking pictures in Antarctica to follow a band of penguins might be difficult to obtain crystal clear shots. After all, the prior films I've seen supposedly in Antarctica were instead likely filmed on some Hollywood backlot. Unfortunately, being a documentary, the film's atmosphere is marred by unfocused footage as it makes capturing the setting difficult. For example, when the Southern Lights are shown, they are impossible to see very well at all. Rather than being an awe inspiring experience (as they are intended to be), they instead further support how the blurry footage hampers the film's presence, and I just couldn't fully appreciate the beauty of Antarctica or the penguins due to this. Additionally and through no fault of the movie itself, I did have a young girl sitting behind me talking during every moment of the movie with a relatively loud voice. I am sure that my movie going experience would have been increased had this not been the case.

For this reason, I am rating The March of the Penguins as decent. If the grainy shots can be cleaned up, then the movie would certainly rise to the good ranking it just missed getting.

Please feel free to comment on this review or on the movie itself at the forum thread devoted to it at this location.