Documentary of frozen bird’s life transfixes young and old alike
By DNA Smith Scripps Howard News Service Running time: 80 minutes /MPAA rating:
“March of the Penguins” is the best family film of the year.
can’t remember the last time I went to the theater and saw small children simply transfixed by what they saw onscreen and so emotionally involved in a film that wasn’t a cartoon or an overblown videogame posing as a film.
This gorgeous documentary will make you laugh, cry and jump in your seat for joy as you experience the lives of these majestic and almosthuman birds.
French filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his crew spent 14 months in Antarctica documenting the yearlong mating cycle of an emperor penguin colony.
When you consider that there are only 40 colonies left on earth and only four that have been studied by humans, this alone is a great achievement. Add to that the harsh conditions for the landlocked, marooned film crew, and the simply breathtaking photography that resulted, and “March of the Penguins” is more than a great documentary — it is a historic achievement.
Narrated by Morgan Freeman, we follow the colony from February to February as the males and females travel 70 miles over the forbidding frozen wastes to the place where they were born, choose a mate, take turns caring for the egg (the male’s job) and then feeding the hatchling (the female’s job). Timing is critical.
By the time the females return to meet their newly hatched young, the males have lost one-half of their body w e i g h t and must trek 70 m i l e s to the s e a t o feed and bring back the next meal for their babies. And then, we watch as the cute hatchlings — fat, fluffy and funny — face dangers of their own as they grow old enough to return to the sea so the cycle of life can turn full-circle.
I can’t recommend this film enough. If you watch only one movie with your family this year, make it “March of the Penguins.”
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