Morgan Freeman Movie:

Editorial Review:
In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family. This courtship will begin with a long journey - a journey that will take them hundreds of miles across the continent by foot, in freezing cold temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on earth, all to find true love.

DVD Features:
Documentaries:CRITTERCAM : EMPEROR PENGUINS: penguin diving and feeding
Documentary:OF MEN AND PENGUINS: The incredible filmmaking process of the movie
Other:8 BALL BUNNY: A classic WB animated short with Bugs Bunny and a penguin

Description of March of the Penguins (Full Screen Edition):
March of the Penguins instantly qualifies as a wildlife classic, taking its place among other extraordinary films like Microcosmos and Winged Migration. French filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his devoted crew endured a full year of extreme conditions in Antarctica to capture the life cycle of Emperor penguins on film, and their diligence is evident in every striking frame of this 80-minute documentary. Narrated in soothing tones by Morgan Freeman, the film focuses on a colony of hundreds of Emperors as they return, in a single-file march of 70 miles or more, to their frozen breeding ground, far inland from the oceans where they thrive. At times dramatic, suspenseful, mischievous and just plain funny, the film conveys the intensity of the penguins' breeding cycle, and their treacherous task of protecting eggs and hatchlings in temperatures as low as 128 degrees below zero. There is some brief mating-ritual violence and sad moments of loss, but March of the Penguins remains family-friendly throughout, and kids especially will enjoy the Antarctic blue-ice vistas and the playful, waddling appeal of the penguins, who can be slapstick clumsy or magnificently graceful, depending on the circumstances. A marvel of wildlife cinematography, this unique film offers a front-row seat to these amazing creatures, balancing just enough scientific information with the entertaining visuals. --Jeff Shannon

March of the Penguins (Full Screen Edition) Reviews:
It's not easy being a penguin
2009-11-07 - WOW! What a penguin movie. When that popular penguin craze was taking place across the country a few years ago, March of the Penguins was viewed by many as the ULTIMATE penguin film. This film does so many incredible things, and does them correctly on ALL counts.

Are you an emotional person? If the answer is yes, you will feel joy, happines, and sadness while watching March of the Penguins, ESPECIALLY if you're an animal person. Someone who understands and appreciates animals will probably find themselves really attached to the penguins in this movie.

Morgan Freeman was the PERFECT choice for narrator. His very calm and soothing way of speaking is simply in a perfect world of its own, and he proves it here with a tremendous performance.

Is it just me, or does it seem like you can REALLY see the male and female penguins communicating with each other? It's almost like they're talking to each other the same way people do! It's just they're not speaking using human words, haha. It's fascinating. Of course it's also possible my mind is just playing tricks with me.

If that's the case, why is it that when the mother penguins return home to their babies, they immediately look down at their babies and appear to smile with joy? You can clearly sense happiness in their eyes.

You can even tell the difference between the males and females just by looking into their eyes.

Some amazing creatures penguins are. You WILL learn things you never knew about penguins just by following along to the story-telling.

When the male and female penguins finally reunite after several months and stand close to each other with their baby between them, proving to the other penguins that they're a family... this is definitely a *very* special moment to watch.

The storyline mainly focuses on the long and bitter journey that the male and female penguins have to make over the course of a long and severe winter in Antarctica. BOTH the male and female penguins have quite the task!

I complain when it's 30 degrees outside. These penguins have to deal with temperatures below -60 WITH wind chill on top of that! Talk about tough winters!

You will learn so many things, which brings me to my next point-

The camera crew did an ASTOUNDING job showing us up close shots of the penguins, and the way each penguin has to go about their lives just to survive.

Thanks to the brilliant camera work, you can easily notice the look on the penguins faces as they communicate with their babies, and when they communicate with their mates. It's what I believe to be picture-perfect quality camera work.

Job well done by EVERONE involved in the making of March of the Penguins. All the work that was done filming the 100-plus hours of footage has certainly paid off. None of these incredible shots would have even been possible without the persistent job on the part of the cameramen.

Just an incredible movie. Children will love it for the learning aspect, adults will love it because of the incredible role of parenting the penguins have to carry through every single year (and have done for centuries) and parents will find themselves being able to relate to it (to an extent of course).

One thing's for sure, everyone will leave with a new appreciation for how difficult it is being a penguin.

The soundtrack that plays is VERY good. It plays at all the appropriate moments, and it's sometimes melodic, and overall the orchestrated music really captures the feel and gigantic, mysterious beauty that is Antarctica.

I also learned some things NOT related to penguins, such as what it's like seeing the sun finally rise in Antarctica after a lengthy period of solid darkness. The sun actually rises, slowly moves to the left for a short time, then sets again. I was not aware how the sun rises and sets in places like Antarctica and Alaska. Now I know!

Also, about 30 minutes into the film, what the HECK was that? Green and yellow lights DARTING across the night sky at lightning speed. I HOPE those lights were actually sped up for the sake of the movie, haha.

EXCELLENT film. March of the Penguins is a perfect movie for everyone.

A Kid's review
2009-10-24 - I think it's amazing that these penguins have such an excellent sense of direction. I think a piece of land such as...uh, I forgot which piece of land this was shot on...but a piece of land as large as this must be hard to navigate--they don't have a GPS--if one is just walking from place to place. And yet they can walk and stop, walk and stop, walk and stop, and then the females leave to go get food, return, and yes, amazingly, return. To the same spot. I'm glad that I saw and bought this film, I find it kind of whimsical.

Should you pray for a baby penguin?
2009-07-18 - The "family values" politicians who, of late, have had so much difficulty practicing what they preach, would certainly have no more perfect model of the self-sacrificial monogamy they promote than "March of the Penguins." But during the grueling 9 months of each year during which these noble, dignified creatures starve themselves, march endlessly, endure "terrorists" in the form of predators at every turn, they do not appear to have God on their side. Misfortune and, as Morgan Freeman puts it, "unbearable grief," are a constant threat and reality. Is it a moral failing that accounts for such seeming injustices and hardships to their ranks? Is it because they lack a "personal relationship with Jesus" (to borrow a trendy phrase these days)? Or are we seeing a more accurate mirror of the human condition than, save for Darwinians, humans are reluctant to accept?

"March of the Penguins" is definitely manipulative, but the amazing shots that the film has provided (I'd hate to even conjecture the percentage of raw footage to actually used, edited footage in the film) are sufficient to enable the viewer to forgive the "anthropomorphic indulgences and excesses" of the story of these creatures, who are made to seem larger and more "human" than they are. It's a movie that is part science, part "pathetic fallacy" (a term that literary teachers use for the human emotions that poets are prone to ascribe to non-human creatures).

It's a film that leaves (quite intentionally) many questions unanswered, but its intentions are good. It raises awareness and provokes questions about creation, nature, and humans' place in the scheme of things. Moreover, the parallels between penguin and human relationships are undeniable, even if the "feelings" are necessarily projections of the spectators. Any productive steps toward atoning for our own violations of natural laws--such as righting pollution and global warming--are likely to come about only if we can "feel" our inseparable relationship with nature, coming to the realization that besides being spiritual and material beings, we are indeed natural ones.

Embarrassed to be Human?
2009-05-31 - To my knowledge, the first time the general reading public was widely exposed to the Emperor penguin's life cycle was in Robert Ardrey's 1966 book, The Territorial Imperative. Ardrey describes their plight far better than I ever could. Read it. It is three or four pages of pure poetry. It made me embarrassed to be human.

Suffice it to say, the film reaffirmed my embarrassment.

There are many stories in that other world of equal force: Godwits that fly up to nine days, 6000+ miles over water, nonstop. No rest. No water. No food. Day and night. All weather conditions. Or turtles that swim 12,000 miles without food, and little rest, for months seeking their ancestral beach. Tadpole shrimp eggs that estivate for up to 100 years in bisque-baked mud.

If you've ever camped out in the open at -40 degrees, you may have the slightest inkling of what the Emperor males endure. Try -80 extremes for months. Reading the multitude of one star ratings is depressing. The film is not perfect, but it follows a most impressive life-form which many are blind to. On to American Idol.

Nice to think of that other world, out there, that lives and revels, breeds and dies without our permission. May it always be so.




March of the Penguins
2009-05-13 - I could listen to Morgan Freeman read the phonebook so it's no surprise that I enjoyed him as a narrator of this movie. An amazing look at the Emperor Penguin and their annual trek. A lovely film for all.