WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUN...
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUNE X X
Member since:09.07.2007
Reviews:587
Members who trust:241
March of the Penguins is a film which I had been undecided about watching for quite some time. After finally buying it me and my hubby sat down last night to watch it. I was aware before the film began that it was more of a documentary but this did not bother me as I do occasionally like documentaries if they are on good subjects.
The start of the film shows the amazing South Pole and the narration tells us that at one time people did live here as it was once a much warmer place before the land split and moved and subsequently became covered in ice. Morgan Freeman gives the narration to the documentary and he tells us of one tribe which has remained in the South Pole and how they are penguins. Firstly we meet the Emperor penguins, the males, which are by the sea feeding and all of they at the same time start out on a very long walk to the place where they were all born. The seasons are changing at the summer is about to become winter and the weather is about to become much colder to the penguins must make this journey to closer inland where it will be slightly warmer.
At Emperor
Penguins march for days in single file with each taking turns to lead the way, unbeknown to us is how they remember the way as the ice is constantly changing to each year it is a completely different journey for them. When they arrive at their birth place they all huddle together to keep warm and await the female penguins who will begin their journey soon.
The female penguins also begin their journey to their birth place which again takes days and once their they spend a few days trying to pick a mate. Once they have a mate they spend some together and wait to see if they are lucky enough to lay an egg. If they are successful then the female passed the egg to the Emperor who will none take charge of keeping it warm and looking after it. The females leave the Emperors and make the long cold journey back to the sea in search of food as they have lost over half of their body fat in producing the egg so if they do not have food then they will die.
The Emperors are left cold and hungry in charge of the egg. They all huddle together again to try and generate some warmth and keep the eggs safe. The Emperors are constantly taking it in turns to be closer to the middle of the huddle so they are at some point being protected. After 2 months of braving the sever winter storms and cold weather the eggs start to hatch and the female penguins again start they walk back to the Emperors to take charge of their chicks.
Will all the female penguins get back to find they have chicks and will the Emperor Penguins succeed in hatching the eggs and braving the weather?
From the outset I was completely hooked by this film. The scenery really was breath taking at for the majority of the beginning of the film I was at times thinks that it could not be real and it had to have been computer animated. The penguins are definitely the stars of the film as they are the only cast but the chicks do take over once they are born as they are so cute and lovable.
Despite their being limited dialogue in the film as there is only the narration by Morgan Freeman I found I could easily work out what was happening, the penguins managed to show their emotions and feelings so well with out talking. I think if they would have been given voices it would have spoilt the entire film. I particularly enjoy the mating process when the penguins found a mate and I thought that the way they showed their affection to each other was wonderful. There are some lovely scenes with the penguins touching beaks and holding still which made me feel quite emotional.
I think the only downside to the film for me was when the weather and might views were speeded up to show us the Southern lights as this just did not seem real to me. Apart from that I can not fault this film at all. It had me feeling so many different emotions throughout , from happy to sad when the eggs would be lost to the ice and love for the baby chicks and again sadness when a chick would succumb to the weather and die.
At the end of the film when the credits are being played there is a small box on the right hand side of the screen which shows some of the film crews work and how they also had to brave the cold weather and the winter storms to place the cameras and make sure they were working so the footage could be filmed. I found this to be quite interesting.
The DVD which I have does have some bonus material which includes:-
Of Penguin and Men - Making the Documentary National Geographic's Critter cam: Emperor Penguins Classic Looney Tunes Cartoon 8 Ball Bunny Theatrical Trailer.
Hubby did start to watch these and he says that they are well worth a watch if you can get them on your DVD but don't really pay much more for your copy just to get them as they don't really show much more footage then what is in the film.
The film was Produced by Yves Darondeau, Christopher Lioud and Emmanual Priou. It was Directed by Luc Jacquet. The running time of the film is 85 minutes which I feel is a great length.
I paid only £3 for a brand new DVD from EBay and I have also seen this for around the £3-£4 in Tesco. I definitely recommend this film to all as it is one which can be enjoyed by the entire family and children will learn so much without even realising it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1998 - Living World & Universe - Director: Joanna Sarsby - Original Language: English - Classification: Exempt - Starring: David Attenborough
March of the Penguinsinstantly qualifies as a wildlife classic, taking its place among ... more
other extraordinary films likeMicrocosmosandWinged Migration.French filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his devoted crew endured a full year of extreme conditions in Antarctic...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
March of the Penguinsinstantly qualifies as a wildlife classic, taking its place among ... more
other extraordinary films likeMicrocosmosandWinged Migration.French filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his devoted crew endured a full year of extreme conditions in Antarctic...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![March of the Penguins - Luc Jacquet [DVD] [2005]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78495491.jpg "March of the Penguins - Luc Jacquet [DVD] [2005]")
Feb 6th, 2009
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
