March of the Penguins

My small present to Sweetie for her birthday last month was the allegedly totally cute and entertaining frozen nature flick March of the Penguins and tonight we finally got around to watching it. No one can look at the penguin chicks after they show up about halfway through–not counting the brief egg glimpses–and not come away juiced and amazed.

Mating begins in Fall and females drop the eggs as Winter is hitting, carrying the babes to be atop their claws before passing the chore to the menfolk. The ladies lose over 30% of their body weight after giving birth and need to head straight back to the ocean for food. So the men stay inland, eggs on their claws and no food themselves for over four months in the end. Even so, the dads have to be extremely careful since the briefest of exposures to open Winter air temperatures and winds will kill the chick before it can hatch.

Morgan Freeman, clearly succeeding James Earl Jones as trustworthy, believable voice of the nation, recorded the English narration (IMDB credits show that with the film’s unexpected commercial success localized versions were made for many markets) but the filmmakers did a good job of realizing that less is more and that visuals and emotional music suffice to tell the tale of the Emperor penguins and their endless annual cycle of migration and mating. Director/writer Luc Jacquet also was smart to keep all evidence of his production team out of the shot, and then bring in a taste under the closing credits and a making of featurette.

This should easily become a perennial children’s favorite, a movie they can watch a number of times as they grow up themselves and understand more of the world around them.

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