X
- 2019
- G
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 1 h 16 m
- 2019
- G
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 1 h 16 m
Summary Disneynature's all-new feature film Penguins is a coming-of-age story about an Adélie penguin named Steve who joins millions of fellow males in the icy Antarctic spring on a quest to build a suitable nest, find a life partner and start a family. None of it comes easily for him, especially considering he's targeted by everything from kill...
Directed By: Mark Linfield
Written By: David Fowler
- 2019
- G
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 1 h 16 m
- 2019
- G
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 1 h 16 m
Penguins
69
7.1
Where to Watch
Summary Disneynature's all-new feature film Penguins is a coming-of-age story about an Adélie penguin named Steve who joins millions of fellow males in the icy Antarctic spring on a quest to build a suitable nest, find a life partner and start a family. None of it comes easily for him, especially considering he's targeted by everything from kill...
Directed By: Mark Linfield
Written By: David Fowler
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
69
89% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
69
89% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
What’s worse, the songs often distract from the far more interesting real drama occurring onscreen. Kids may find it engaging, but adults may get more restless than usual. Turn the sound down or play your own music over it, and Penguins may well be a near masterpiece.
Even more than those acclaimed lion, chimp and bear films that have preceded it, Penguins proves especially delightful — a coming-of-age story outfitted with an engaging anthropomorphic overlay that can make you forget you’re watching an intimately filmed documentary instead of an animated adventure.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
7.1
58% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
32% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
11% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
7.1
58% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
32% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
11% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Awesome movie reallly interesting best science movie out I learned a lot about penguins I love how they call the main character Steve it’s just perfect
Report
Just you try to resist the impossible adorableness offered up in the latest Disneynature documentary, Penguins. You cannot do it, despite the cutesy anthropomorphizing, the too-tidy nature of the story it’s telling and the knowingly cheesy soundtrack of ‘80s tunes accompanying these creatures’ adventures.
With Penguins, frequent Disneynature filmmaker Alastair Fothergill and franchise newbie Jeff Wilson are working in a more minor key than such essential entries as Chimpanzee and African Cats, but the artistry and relative magic of the series is still on full display.
But fantasy elements aside, this Disney movie has the one essential that makes a nature documentary fly: a thrilling sense of wonder.
This time out however, the Disneynature folks have complemented their flawless footage with a script (narrated by Ed Helms) that is more anthropomorphized than usual.
[A] beautiful but frustratingly shallow Disneynature documentary.
It was great movie. The main character Steve is on a mission. And overall the plot is actually good.
Report
You have to appreciate the commitment and tenacity of the crew that created the amazing nature footage for “Penguins.” Conditions were so difficult because of cold and wind that crew members would work in six-week stretches before needing an extended break, even though they were filming in the “summer” season in Antarctica. The results of their work are truly breathtaking – memorable images of the stark beauty of one of the most inhospitable places on earth, a sense of the vast scope as half a million penguins are on the move, nerve-wracking close-ups of the penguins dealing with their nemeses – predatory birds, leopard seals, killer whales. Most of all, the viewer is offered a detailed portrait of the life of the Adelie penguin –arriving on land at the start of the summer season, males building nests, couples finding or rediscovering a mate and having chicks, parents preparing the chicks for their first swim north at the end of the season.
The crew painstakingly chronicles the unique lives of these penguins. When the males arrive at the breeding ground, they ritually collect rocks, the only available material for nesting. Female penguins evaluate the males, in part, by the number and quality of rocks in their nests. The vocalizing and neck-rolling of the courtship is oddly poetic. The penguins’ ability to protect their eggs during katabatic winds that can gust up to 150 mph and last for days, all with temperatures well below freezing, is stunning. The tenacity of parents taking turns making the 100-mile round trip to the ocean to gorge on fish, then return to the nest and regurgitate their catch to feed the young, is inspiring. Unfortunately, some of the choices of the creative team made me want to replicate the penguins’ regurgitation ritual. In fairness, given that the production company’s iconic symbol is a mouse anthropomorphized as Mickey, I probably should have seen it all coming. In the opening scene, Ed Helms (serving as narrator while also vocalizing the primary character’s internal monologue) tells us, “This is Steve.” Rather than being portrayed as a fascinating bird following his natural instincts, Steve is saddled with a variety of unjustified human characteristics – perpetual ****, bumbling earnestness, anxiety at being a first-time dad. In a courageous creative leap, Steve’s Adelie penguin mate is named Adeline. Helms tells us solemnly that Adeline is “patient” with Steve’s eccentricities.
The musical choices are quite memorable, just not in a good way. To underscore the initial courting ritual, the creative team demonstrated its taste for understatement and literal lyrics by offering REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight This Feeling.” Later, as the penguin pairs separate at the end of the summer to swim north in their same-sex groups, presumably overwhelmed with a human sense of ****, Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again On My Own” makes an unwanted appearance.
Despite capturing effectively most of the important details of the lives of Adelie penguins, the film does not utter a syllable to discuss that their habitat is changing rapidly. According to “Smithsonian Magazine,” Antarctica lost 250 billion tons of ice in 2017 alone. Overall, “Penguins” is an opportunity missed. Go see the film for its amazing visuals, just wear your ear buds and listen to Enya and the whales instead of the soundtrack. Or better yet, rent “March of the Penguins,” which won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2005.
Report
Production Company
Disneynature,
Silverback Films
Release Date Apr 17, 2019
Duration 1 h 16 m
Rating G
Genres
Tagline For Steve, his adventure isn't all black and white.
Awards
Wildscreen Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 1 Nomination