March of the Penguins Reviews

March of the Penguins is a truly remarkable film, that wasn't helped by its misleading advertising. I admit I wasn't expecting what I saw, in fact it was better than what I was expecting. I loved the documentary style it was shot in. I loved the beautiful photography and the breathtaking sceneries. I loved the poignant and haunting music. I loved the cleverly written narration and thought that Morgan Freeman narrated perfectly. Asdides from the visuals were the penguins themselves, they were so cute and immediately lovable, then again I may biased as I love penguins. The film is quite leisurely in pace, but I liked that, it gave an elegiac and thoughtful feel to the film. In conclusion, March of the Penguins really is an astounding documentary-like film. 10/10 Bethany Cox

If I recall correctly, I saw this movie at my aunt's when I was on holiday in France. My wife was pretty sick (food poisoning or something like that) and while she was recovering, I ended up watching a whole bunch of dvds my aunt owned. Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. However, I ended up with some rather mixed feelings. First of all, it is indeed quite an intriguing documentary. The visuals were often really amazing and it was quite fascinating to follow these penguins. Still, there was one thing that did really bother me and that was the narration (personally, I saw the original French version but I don't think the language was the issue here). Apparently, the makers thought it would be a great idea to add some pseudo poetry-philosophy to comment these events. Personally, I thought it was a terribly misguided choice and it really bothered me throughout the whole thing. Not only it wasn't educational at all but above all, it felt really pretentious. Why they didn't do something like in 'Microcosmos' (an amazing French documentary, you should check it out)? Indeed, put some music, remove the comments alltogether and let nature tell its own story. So, the narration bothered me and, quite frankly, I don't think they showed things I didn't already knew before. Still, it remains a beautiful documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Nature is perfection and when you believe everything you see, some emperor penguins come and completely change my perception and feelings.

It's a splendid story, incorrectly judged with Animal Planet's episode, which presents the cycle of survival of those species in the most inhospitable place in the world. Threatened by hunger, cold and predators (leopard seals and gulls), the monogamous penguins must preserve the ancient cycle of the species, as reflected in the birth of new offspring and the search for food.

It is a piece of art, proving that a story can make a difference (the voice of Morgan Freeman) or curious fiction concepts that mingle easily in the documentary (in case the French dubbing with human voices voicing penguins).

An amazing documentary. The film itself is beautifully shot, but even more beautiful is the glimpse into the pulse of nature as embodied in the penguins, who journey far and away in the harshest climate in order to give life to their offspring. The film is more romantic than scientific, that is, the filmmakers attempts to give a human voice (literally as Morgan Freeman does the English narration throughout the movie) to the amazing journeys taken (back and forth) by the Emperor penguins in the ice deserts of Antarctica. The film impressively captures the rare and mesmerizing shots of the penguins throughout their journey, and its focus on 'family' certainty makes it a compelling story of joy, loss, grief and hope. Besides, I dare anyone not to squee and gush over the cuteness of those baby penguins. They alone make the movie worth watching.

Yeah, everyone can keep their jokes about 'but its just a stupid movie about penguins', but it shows just how lame Hollywood is these days when people would RATHER watch a bunch of penguins just living life, then to see another explosive-filled mindless heartless piece of hollywood trash.

This documentary is beautiful, heart warming, romantic, shocking, sad, and even at times a bit funny. And all you have to do is point the camera at penguins to achieve this. Nature is a masterpiece.

I don't think I could possibly understand the fascination with penguins to such a point that this was made into a major motion picture. This could have easily been translated into a one hour special on the Discovery channel.