Pingouins

DisneyNature's latest documentary focusing on the lives of penguins in the Arctic is cute if not a little too simplistic. DisneyNature has been around for several years now bringing out film after film focusing on the wildlife of our little blue planet with the simple goal of informing, entertaining and donating to important causes to protect the creatures that roam this earth.

Penguins is their latest documentary and is fun and charming, detailing the life of a single penguin in great detail. The film is obviously aimed for younger audiences and simply a way of showing penguins doing cute things. The narration from Ed Helms hammers this point home for sure with much of his delivery being extremely whimsical and at times childish.

The film does a good job of documenting little Steve's journey in the harsh landscape showing off all the trials and tribulations he has to face without going over a G rating of course. It's fun watching him scuttle around the icy landscape and it's rather cute. However, this can only entertain for so long before it becomes monotonous and the constant narration from Ed Helms gets tiresome and it's charm wares off fast.

Sometimes I wondered while watching, what sort of direction Ed Helms was given in the recording booth, because sometimes he feels completely lost and it often feels like just rambling. But perhaps this is a minor complaint overall. There's nothing wrong with this and the point of the film is still the same. It's a simple story and simple subject with beautiful shots of the icy landscape, but it doesn't tell me really anything new and perhaps that's the films biggest problem.

The film shows you the life of this penguin and his group, but doesn't give out any new information that we haven't already seen or perhaps heard of in other similar penguin related documentaries. Which this is fine, but I would have liked something a little more deeper.

Penguins in a perfectly fine documentary with some interesting tidbits and wonderful cinematography that should entertain younger viewers, but doesn't add anything new. It is however a film with an important message and cause, by showing us the importance of these little creatures down south and I can't fault the film or judge too harshly for doing something that I think is worthwhile in the end.

2019's 'Penguins' had real potential of being great and had all the ingredients to be. Reasons for wanting to see it were quite a few. One being my undying lifelong love for Disney. Another being my every bit as strong love for penguins, probably along with seals my favourite animal. The DisneyNature documentaries are interesting, even if the quality has varied. With wonderful ones such as 'Earth' and 'Oceans', and also a couple that underwhelmed like 'Elephant' and 'Born in China'.

'Penguins' is not up there among the best DisneyNature documentaries. It is also not one of the worst. Personally put it somewhere in the middle along with 'Monkey Kingdom'. Actually saw this not long after seeing 'Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale' and when comparing briefly the two, there is no question as to which is the better one of the two. That sounds like 'Penguins' is bad. It isn't. There is actually a lot to like here, but one big thing in particular jarred the brought things down.

Lets start mentioning the good things. 'Penguins' looks gorgeous for one thing and it is mainly the quality of the visuals that make it worth seeing. The scenery is absolutely spectacular, while being a lot more than cute penguins in beautiful environments. The environments are indeed breathtakingly beautiful but they are also suitably cruel and unforgiving, there are times without being too dark where 'Penguins' does show that penguins do have difficulties in their habitats. This is all enhanced by the cinematic-worthy photography. Some of the music has a nice atmosphere and is appealing in instrumentation.

Steve is a very entertaining and likeable penguin that is always worth rooting for every step of the way in all the stages of his journey, not coming over as too humanised. In fact all the penguins are immensely engaging and it is hard to not feel anything for them, cheer for them, cry for them and admire any accomplishments. 'Penguins' is full of charm and entertainment value, plus very cute without being sickly, and while it didn't emotionally connect with me quite as much as 'Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale' for example there are affecting parts. Some of the narration intrigues and informs.

Most of the time however, the narration didn't do an awful lot for me. Like other DisneyNature documentaries, its writing did try too hard to appeal to younger audiences and ended up being too childish and over-simplified. It also tried to inject some humour intended to lighten the mood, but this came over as clumsy and over-silly. Ed Helms' delivery added to the problem, too much of it is too over-eager and can talk down to the audience.

While not near as much of a problem, for my tastes some of 'Penguins' was a little too over-scored in mood and placement.

In conclusion, mostly enjoyed it but would have loved it if the narration didn't jar as much. 7/10

Leave it to Stevie, he can get the job done. He's a first-year dad sharing with his lovely spouse the challenging responsibility of raising two, growing youngsters. To get to that junction, Steve had to build a foundation to cultivate his household. He has to travel to the right location, build and protect his home, and wait to meet his possibly life-long partner. You might imagine I'm talking about young suburbans in America or elsewhere in global communities. They are penguins, this is their story with Steve taking the lead as narrator Ed Helms guides along in the icy frontier. With a general title, Penguins is a whimsical and clever take on a well-known delightful film animal. You might recall the 2005 documentary, March of the Penguins which provided a more realistic perspective of these birds life. They have been the subject of some fictional live action and animation movies. This here is familiar penguin material, the filmmakers' awareness prompt them to keep it entertaining. With a fish-full of life lessons without preaching, Penguins relates to young and older ones the struggles of raising a family with less intensity of the March of Penguins, and with more fun. There are many humorous moments, some a bit strained but not irritating. Steve and his wife, Adelene face hardships feeding their children, from hungry predators, and harsh weather. It is a choice family film and a rare full length G-rated movie. I viewed it with a small audience of children with their guardians and elderly persons. The photography is spacious and exceptional. The storyline might push its limits a bit, Penguins was a pleasure to watch and wonder about these tuxedo fur characters.

Had a lot of fun seeing this in IMAX on Earth Day. Really funny and entertaining, even for adults. Especially recommended for family viewing, though. Finally, if you're an 80's music lover like me, you'll get a lot of joy from this film. Enjoy!

"Penguins" (2019 release; 76 min.) is the latest documentary from Disneynature. As the movie opens, we are reminded that this is the 10th anniversary of the Disneynature movies. This latest one brings us the life and times of Steve, an Adelie penguin. He is 5 years old, about 2 ft. tall, and about 15 lbs. As we join Steve, he is on his way to the very spot where he was born, but now looking to court a mate and start a family. This is easier said than done, as he fights for the right nesting spot, which he builds with rocks that he collects. Then a potential mate shows interest... At this point we are 10 min. int the movie, but to tell you more of the plot (such as it is) would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is directed by Disneynature veteran Alastair Fothergill ("African Cats", "Bears") and Jeff Wilson. When I heard of this release, my initial reaction was "haven't we seen this before in the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins?". Turns out that concern is unjustified. "March of the Penguins" looks at the much larger emperor penguin, whereas this documentary follows the Adelie pengiun. There is a funny scene in the beginning where Steve accidentally ends up in a colony of emperor penguins and he gets slapped around... by baby emperor penguins (who are still larger than Steve). Once that was cleared up, the only thing that mattered to me was to see how spectacular the footage was, and there I was not disappointed. In fact, the footage is outstanding, and on top of that the film makers lucked out (if that is the right wording--probably they persisted and were rewarded) with some amazing plot twists--I really don't want to say anything more so as not to spoil). Just watch!

"Penguins" opened in theaters a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to seeing it this weekend, yes the same weekend where "Avengers Endgame" came out and dominated the box office (more than 90% of the weekend's business--but I have no interest in seeing it). The Sunday early evening screening where I saw "Penguins" was attended so-so--about 10-12 people, mostly adults I might add. If you love nature documentaries, you cannot go wrong with this. Of course I encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.