User reviews

"The March of the Penguins" has to be one of the most beautiful documentaries in recent memory. Luc Jacquet, its director, takes us on trip to Antarctica where we are introduced to the majestic Emperor penguins. Mr. Jacquet and his cinematographers, Laurent Chalet and Jerome Maison, have done the impossible task to capture these penguins in their own habitat under conditions that seem almost humanly impossible to live, let alone take this team to register it for us, the viewers in all its splendor and bleakness.

The Emperor penguins have to be the most elegant birds on this planet. They have such a noble way of standing and shuffling in almost perfect lines from the sea to the area where they will mate, hatch their eggs, and then have the females leave for the sea to feed themselves and bring back food for the new chicks. After that is accomplished, it's the males turn to do their march back to the sea to feed and fortify themselves, returning to the hatching and mating area. What makes these penguins so unique is the sense of family they project at all times.

Mr. Jacquet makes it clear for us to understand the behavior of the Emperors in their hostile environment. The English version has the clear narration by Morgan Freeman who expands on the way these birds live and how they are able to survive under extreme conditions. From what I have read about the documentary, the English version, which we are seeing in this country, has a musical score by Alex Wurman, that enhances the movie in unexpected ways.

Antarctica, that icy white vastness at the end of the world, has never looked more majestic than in this documentary. Thanks to Luc Jacquet we are enlightened by all what we learn about the Emperors as they endure and survive under the worst possible circumstances and remain the graceful figures they are. Watching "The March of the Penguins" feels, at times, like being at the ballet watching a magical dance performed by these flightless birds that manage to look so dignified all the time while doing for us their amazing dance of survival.

Toss that anthropomorphic expectation and embrace your inner animal because documentarian Luc Jacquet has done the impossible: March of the Penguins respects, even adores, these indomitable cuties, not because, as Morgan Freeman says in his voice-over narration, they may be just like us, but rather because they are not like us. Although we may want to see ourselves in them, we end up seeing in this incomparably intimate journey through the entire breeding cycle in Antarctica is a unique organism totally devoted to the survival of its family, brooking no selfish activity and no vacation from the harsh climate and relentless demands of nature.

This film's strength is a lack of sentimentality that allows us to focus on the strategies of survival: Thousands of penguins closely huddle with their backs to the sometimes 100 mile an hour winds; fathers and mothers equally share responsibilities such as trudging 70 miles each way to store up food for the babies; fathers protect eggs while mothers make that journey; mates separate after the season from each other and their babies forever. Their lovemaking is dignified and the essence of minimalism. These are just a few of the rituals that characterize an evolutionary process guaranteeing the survival of the species.

Jacquet occasionally courts repetition, anathema to a hyperactive audience, but if the audience gives itself over to the rhythms of penguins breeding to live, it will not be bored. Winged Migration seems strangely detached by comparison, formations mostly seen from afar. Jacquet gets up close and personal (The parents exchanging an egg to be stored under their coats is memorable) to make the audience collaborator rather than voyeur. Lamentably, the director includes no scenes of raw predator activity, just a large scavenger scooping up a baby. A documentary should allow the audience of experiencing the good and the bad.

A few years ago I hid in a trench in New Zealand to see Penguins rise out of the sea at the same time each day marching by us to their camps. I was deeply moved by their dignity and calm, punctuated with a resolve to keep their rituals intact for millennia. That unflagging constancy is devoutly to be wished in humanity.

For once, the trailer hype may be accurate: "In the harshest place on earth, love finds a way." Love of species would be more accurate. No matter, you'll love the film.

I was lucky enough to see this film at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan. This was a wonderful documentary directed by Luc Jacquet which follows penguins traveling to their breeding ground in Antarctica.

Narrated by Morgan Freeman, it's beautiful and I loved the way it didn't just point a camera at penguins and say how they live, this one actually told a story. If it wasn't narrated, you would still be able to follow the basic idea of the film. The countless penguins travel a very long distance to breed. It's very interesting to watch these penguins, they go through so many ordeals just to have kids.

It's in the style of Winged Migration, the scenery is a character. If you get the chance to see this film I recommend it, it's wonderful to look at and it's impossible not to love the penguins.

I recently saw this film at the Waterfront Film Festival in Michigan and I can say it's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.

Narrated by Morgan Freeman, it follows the annual journey that penguins and their mates endure to bring a newborn penguin into the world. This film has some of the most amazing footage I've ever see in a documentary ... including underwater footage beneath the ice of penguins feeding and being fed on. Footage so amazing that I heard one viewer saying how it must have been CGI as he left the venue.

If you have any interest in nature, penguins, or just want to see a touching story of the amazing journey that penguins make simply to perpetuate their breed, definitely check this film out in theatres. It's a masterpiece.

The March of the Penguins is a powerful film. It is sad, funny, and simply amazing at the same time. It teaches us that life is a miracle. For the emperor penguins life is an everyday struggle to survive against predators, storms, and raging winds in the harshest weather conditions on earth. The documentary, filmed on location in Antarctica, shows the birds' struggle to eat, live, and reproduce. Each year the birds walk over seventy miles across ice and snow to their breeding ground. There the penguins mate, then conceal their eggs from the cold under a fold of their skin and balancing the precious new life to be born on their claws. Fathers take turns in caring for the eggs until they hatch, while mothers walk long miles again to bring home food for the chicks. Once the chicks are born, the parents work together to feed, shelter, and raise them. French director Luc Jacquet was a scientist before he became a filmmaker. He succeeded in making the story dramatic, compelling, and comprehensible to younger viewers. The film is skillfully narrated by Morgan Freeman. It is a definite MUST SEE.

Despite Luc Jaquet 's brilliant idea of making a documentary on the penguins, people should know that only LAURENT CHALET Director of Photography and assistant JEROME MAISON spent one year shooting the film completely alone and almost died there.

Luc Jaquet, quoted as the Director, was in fact never behind the camera.

Laurent CHALET shot almost 100% of the entire film while Luc Jaquet stayed in France, waiting one year for the return of CHALET and MAISON to start editing the footage that he discovered at the same time.

Laurent CHALET, is the real man behind the Penguins.

La Marche de l'Empereur (2005) is a french documentary that features the habits of penguins during the course of one year: their mating rituals, their migrations, laying of the eggs, searching for food, etc. It also shows them facing a danger or two, and (what for me was the highlight of the movie) the moment when the baby penguins break out of their shells! The movie is visually astounding. The cinematographer has managed to capture extreme close-ups where you can see the pattern of their feathers, as well as breath-taking longshots of hundreds of penguins marching on the beautiful icy backdrop. There is also a suspenseful underwater sequence.

The movie is accompanied with poetic voice-overs that tell the story from the penguins' point of view, and gentle ambiance music. There are also a few laughs here and there, as penguins bump into each other or slip on the ice.

The movie could have been handled better from a dramatic storytelling stand-point, but it seemed the director was aiming to create a sort of poetic new age nature movie, and as such, it works perfectly. Admittedly, there are points where the style starts to wear on you, and some parts seem to be repeating themselves, but at 80 minutes long the movie doesn't overstay its welcome.

All in all, the movie is a memorable experience, and manages to be informative and entertaining at the same time, and even manages to be moving on occasion. And penguins are simply the cutest animals!

If you make the effort to catch March of the Penguins, you'll be predictably pleased for the simple fact that if it's penguins you want to see it's penguins you're going to get. Beaucoups de penguins. And you will learn plenty about these noble survivors of the coldest place on earth. If it's Danny DeVito or Burgess Meredith you came to see, you are quite off the mark. The Emperor Penguins of Antarctica survive and perpetuate their species in a frozen and surreal environment driven by instincts developed over centuries. They have mostly monogamous relationships and in the midst of this can recognize one another's 'voices'. These relationships help to organize survival. We get seemingly impossible and privileged views of their long marches across barren landscapes, complex rituals of protecting of fragile eggs in 160 mph winds, huddled in huge packs against the cold, males and females sharing food foraging duties, and chubby birds diving to great depths for fish. It's a remarkable system of survival. The French filmmakers shot on super 16mm film for one year (with 120 hours of images), which is a whole winter cycle for the emperor. They saw none of the images as they progressed. Nobody left until it was done and director as LUC JACQUET SAYS; "It took a year to recover. Re-entry is a long process." The result is, no doubt, some the most remarkable footage ever filmed on the subject. What they do, of course, to reel in their audience is to anthropomorphize these creatures. Like the recent "Parrots of Telegraph Hill" we see the penguins take on the attributes of 'love' and 'caring'. The baby penguins toddle along just like little people, except that they do so braving extreme minus degree temperatures. Miles of these cute birds march across landscapes like little wind up toys in a John Ford snow desert. The story is assisted by cloying music and narration, and the dulcet tones of the ubiquitous Morgan Freeman. But any criticism of the manipulative aspects of the film would be irrelevant in the face of the achievement. These are stunning images beautifully assembled to serve a remarkable story. If your going to get the paying public into a nature flick, this is the way to do it.

Greetings again from the darkness. This documentary had two effects on me. First, the photography and scenery is stunning. Second, penguins seem to have survived despite their lack of evolution. The magic of Antarctica is captured beautifully. The stark ice desert is amazing in its isolation and brutal environment. For whatever reason, for thousands of years emperor penguins have made this same trek at exactly the same time of year to exactly the same place for the sole purpose of procreation. This isolated spot provides relief from most predators but causes incredible hardships on mother, father and chick penguins. I am no scientist, but it is a real head scratcher as to why this creature does something so difficult for them and has made no strides towards a simpler or more effective method after all this time. As a movie watcher, I definitely enjoyed the amazing photography as the rituals of marching, mating and surviving are captured on film - including some terrific close ups of these flightless birds. The photography overcomes what is a horrible score and less than exciting narration from the normally outstanding Morgan Freeman. Still worth seeing, although kids under age 8 will undoubtedly be bored. This one will keep you from ever feeling sorry for zoo-kept penguins again!

If this comes to your town, do yourself a favor and see it on the big screen. I never realized how difficult life is for these amazing creatures. The fact that they continue to exist at all is something of a miracle. The movie doesn't anthropomorphize the penguins and yet there are times when the audience I attended with identified with them almost on a human level. The audience I saw it with giggled and said "Awww" many times with varying degrees of audibility. There are even some times when the audience fell dead silent in quiet reflection such as when, for one or two penguins, the long march was in vain.

Also, bring the family to this one! I saw it with my mother, sister, and grandfather and we all came out talking about our favorite parts and how amazing penguins are. My mom said she liked Winged Migration more, but I actually liked this one more.

P.S. I noticed in the credits that there were digital effects artists who worked on March of the Penguins. I'm not sure what digital effects were done. If anyone has any information on this, please send me a private message.

As informative as it is entertaining, the phenomenally popular documentary "March of the Penguins" demonstrates that life can flourish even in the remotest corners and harshest environments on our planet.

Director Luc Jacquet and his valiant crew of seasoned filmmakers spent a grueling winter in Antarctica getting up-close-and-personal with a group of penguins who turned out to be anything but shy when the cameras started rolling. The team recorded the complex mating and child-rearing ritual the penguins have been acting out on their own private little continent, far from the prying eyes of the outside world - until now, that is - for thousands upon thousands of years. After the penguins have marched seventy miles to their breeding ground, the males and females pair off into monogamous couples to do their thing (fear not, worried parents, the film stays within the pristine parameters of a "G"-rated, family-friendly feature here). Then, after the egg has been laid, the male and female trade off responsibility for protecting their progeny against the brutal cold in a fashion that can only make many exhausted mothers in the audience green with envy. Then we watch as the eggs hatch and the pint-sized young'uns finally get a taste of the challenging life they've been brought into this literally cold, cruel world to lead.

Although the photography doesn't have the sparkling clarity one would find in an IMAX film on the same subject, "March of the Penguins" still does an amazing job placing us right in the center of the action, be it on the ice as the penguins huddle for warmth against a raging blizzard or under water as the exhausted mothers search for food to bring back to their hungry babies. The movie is both funny and touching, keeping the inevitable anthropomorphic silliness to a decent minimum. The narration (voiced by Morgan Freedman) occasionally veers towards the sappy, but, for the most part, it stays levelheaded and informative, while the music ranges from the moving to the soupy.

"March of the Penguins" may be no more than a Discovery Channel feature blown up to big screen proportions, but it's still more fun to watch than most of the fiction films in theaters these days.

This is perhaps the most amazing animal documentary ever. The footage was gathered in what truly must be "the harshest place on earth". It is barren, cold beyond cold and then there is the endless night of winter. The underwater footage was my favorite, but every single frame is magnificent. I can't wait for the DVD, so I can see how the filmmakers did this.

The narration is less objective than it is romantic - making it less a true documentary than a story, but that is fine in this case, and Morgan Freeman does a great job. You really should make the effort to see this on the big screen - it is absolutely stunning!

Your feelings about this film will, of course, depend on what you're looking for. If you want a cute movie with some beautiful footage that tells a nice story about penguins, then you won't be disappointed.

But if you're of a more critical inclination, without much taste for saccharine and simplicity, then you might find yourself a little annoyed by Morgan Freeman's narration in this film.

The English version of the narration, at least, serves to anthropomorphize the penguins' ordeals at every turn. This may make the "story" accessible to a broader audience, but to me, at least, it came off as condescending and manipulative. For example, Freeman sagely explains that the father penguin feels remorse when it has to leave its chick for the first time. How can we know what the penguins feel? This tactic of imposing human emotions onto the penguins is employed, to ill effect, throughout the film. I think it may have been better to stick to facts, and to state so explicitly when statements are speculation (like how the penguins are feeling).

There were also points when the film was emotionally manipulative. (I know, pretty much every film is emotionally manipulative.) For example, the seal is presented as the ravenous villain, whereas we are used to having seals depicted as charismatic and lovable. What, seals are carnivores? I thought they were those cute little creatures always getting chased around by those big bad killer whales. My point is that things are not simple, and that it seems disingenuous, even deceptive to depict complex, mysterious things as simple in order to make them appealing.

My fundamental reservations aside, the footage is great and the story is well told for what it is.

What most people don't understand is that this film is not a true documentary or natural history film. It is instead a screenplay, a story if you will, that attempts to anthropomorphize penguins, while giving factual information on their yearly migration to their mating grounds in the Antarctica. Simple as that. I thought the cinematography was of excellent quality and was enhanced by the well chosen sound track. However, I found Morgan Freeman's narration skills just did not work well here. He sounded so monotone and just plain dull. I would have enjoyed the film better just by watching and listening to the soundtrack, with no narration. If you want to see what I consider the very best in natural history/documentary series and films, seek out the many fine works of Sir David Attenborough. If you've never had the privilege of viewing any of his works, and you enjoy true natural history documentaries, you just don't know what your missing.

There's really nothing not to like about this movie. It is interesting being shown how the penguins behave and simultaneously told what they are thinking. Obviously the imagery is rather objective but the subjective "story" told makes this a movie rather than an Animal Planet TV show. The Story is amazing. Fact is truly stranger than fiction. The characters are well developed; the hero more beautifully photogenic than Brad Pitt and A. Jolie combined; the plot is compelling; and though the ending can never be in doubt its story is both riveting and the resolution impactful. I took my date and my 7 year old and we all loved it.

Emperor penguins in Antarctica struggle with the harsh elements and flying predators as they attempt to breed and get food to survive. Director/co-writer Luc Jacquet's National Geographic documentary feature has loads of heart and personality. In this day and age of rotten and unremarkable characters in movies, Jacquet's little tuxedo birds share their trials, triumphs, tragedies and tribulations with no strings attached. Harrowing narration by Morgan Freeman (for the American version) tells the heartwarming and often heartrending treks that these magnificent animals must take each year for their very survival. A haunting score (one of the better of recent memory) and top-notch cinematography are more than enough reason to give this picture a try. Likely will be more of a curiosity than a classic, "March of the Penguins" is nevertheless a fascinating and endearing experience that has that special unspeakable quality that few movies have. 4 stars out of 5.

This film is visually stunning, tightly plotted, and emotionally moving. I laughed uncontrollably and cried uncontrollably as the action held mt attention tight all 90 minutes. I identified with and sympathized with the films protagonists. Images and scenes from the movie have stayed with me in the week since I saw it - dipping in and out of my mind repeatedly. This film provides everything you could possibly want from a trip to the cinema.

Of course, I am describing a documentary about penguins. The important action linking the above paragraph to a documentary is the film's opening. The first shots show the penguins walking along the horizon. Slightly out of focus, they resemble people - are described as nomads enacting an ancient ritual. In these opening shots, a bond is forged between the audience and the penguins. The penguins - who throughout are portrayed as a sort of single organism in themselves (though there is constant focus on the individuals involved and their personal dramas set against the backdrop of the group as a whole) - are established as human.

Soon after this humanizing opening, the film establishes (through visuals, not scientific explanation) that these impressive nomads are emotional beings who, as individuals, form a society. These individual penguins show personality and desire separate from, yet subservient to, those of the group as a whole. Their dilemma - the plot of the movie - is laid out simply - they must reproduce. Their motivations are to survive as a group, to reproduce, to love, and to survive as individuals.

The visual simplicity of black and white objects moving against endless expanses of ice, sky, and later water matches the simplicity of the story.

These simplicities allow for brilliance of the visual landscape and the basic, endearing, and relevant story to come forward. There are many obstacles for the penguins. Gut-wrenching pain, strife, sacrifice and loss are juxtaposed with inspiring moments of humor, redemption, love, beauty, and accomplishment.

The universals of the story allow the viewer to lose himself inside the shot-by-shot movement of the story; to switch from one penguin to another, long-shots to close-ups, desperation to hope; to bask in the beauty of the film and the landscapes and the sheer amazement that this happens on the same Earth as the movie theater, and also to care about how an individual experiences this extremely unlikely adventure of life.

This is less a nature documentary than a feature film. Watch it as such. The science is there for the viewer to see and accept. Scientific explanation is not the focus of the narration; it is the backdrop for the stunning look that carries a deep and rewarding story.

This all adds up not just a feature film, but to the best feature film of the summer.

I seem to have an older DVD-release of this documentary than the version in the trailer here on the IMDb and iTunes. The documentary itself and the voice over is absolutely brilliant, but the new "disney-music" they have added to the movie is disturbing. This is a harsh environment, and for me this change of music is ruining the authenticity of the documentary completely. A friend of mine saw the version that I have of the movie too - he really enjoyed it so much he bought a DVD copy himself. But was very disappointed when he realized the music had changed dramatically.

If I could rate the documentary without the "disney music", I would definitively vote for 9. But, for now only 6.

"March of the Penguins" is the latest independent film phenomenon, garnering much attention, both critically from renowned reviewers and financially at the box office. But I still wondered how a seemingly mundane story, the Antarctic life cycle of the emperor penguin, could possibly be as good as hyped.

The simple story traces a year in the life of emperor penguins dwelling near the South Pole. Most people know of penguins but do not know much about them. Thus the intrigue of the movie, learning about unknown creatures. While mildly engaging, that alone is not enough to garner interest for ninety minutes, but the quirky physical actions of the penguins do merit attention. Let's face it: penguins are weird, and their odd natural movements are what make the movie worth watching. Little things like a bird stumbling into a snowbank; bumping into a compadre; propelling itself out of the water; or the adorable youngsters doing almost anything. These things make you chuckle, as though watching a child curiously toddle around a park. That's the universal appeal; words are hardly necessarily and not always used in these scenes.

The sole human voice is Morgan Freeman, who again inimitably delivers the narration, and his sympathetic grandfatherly tone nearly supersedes the script that too often oozes smarminess, although his natural gravitas may actually be a detriment as well, enhancing the words that over-anthropomorphize the penguins. They are freaking birds, clearly not equal beings, too frequently treated as as peers with similar feelings of love, hope, and pain. In the most blatant example, while speaking of the dramatic emotions that the birds feel when tragedy strikes, the over-the-top narration simultaneously generates an unusual combination of sympathy and eye-rolling. Many critics have praised the movie for its powerful emotion, but are moviegoers so starved for a decent story that simple nature is to be considered extraordinary? I think not. The effort is appreciated, but ultimately too much.

The one element that could have salvaged "March of the Penguins" was the cinematography, which I expected more from. The icy natural beauty of Antarctica begs for spectacular scene-setting shots, something along the lines of "Touching the Void" or 2002's "Insomnia", but nothing special is present here. Maybe that was an intentional decision by the filmmakers to avoid distracting from the basic story, but contrasting the soaring surroundings with the literally down-to-earth penguins would have made the movie all the more fantastic on the big screen. Instead the filmmakers stick with unexciting shots highlighted only by the handful of close-ups that aren't too tight. Additionally several shots are less than crystal clear, perhaps hazy due to the conditions. But they are mildly distracting regardless, as are a few unusual confusing angles and some blatant cheating in the editing room, in which shots of seals were intercut with penguins to give the impression they were simultaneously sharing the same water. Things like this can be overlooked in bigger pictures, but when a movie is as simple as this one, the sometimes smaller components stand out and divert attention when they are subpar, particularly when they could have elevated the movie to greater heights.

"March of the Penguins" leaves one wondering why it was transformed to the big screen, because the movie is little more than a well done National Geographic special. Freeman's narration is a pleasant cinematic touch, but nothing else except the unctuous script distinguishes this from things seen before on television, despite the inherently amusing quirkiness of penguins.

Bottom Line: Decent, but not spectacular. 6 of 10 at best, and far from a must-see.

"March of the Penguins (La Marche de l'empereur)" is a pretty National Geographic nature film. The visuals are lovely, but there is little science.

The English-language narration by a nicely dry Morgan Freeman, adding more richness than his tone in his "War of the Worlds" voice-over cameo, avoids any mention of evolution and wincingly anthropomorphizes procreative instincts into romantic relationships.

But the nesting habits of penguins are an incredible, irresistibly involving tale, almost Ripley's Believe It or Not, to get to see - and doubtless filming it was too, though I presume we'll only get the photographers' tale on the DVD.

The harsh realities of nature are shown frankly enough, even though edited to avoid a PG rating, that a toddler in the audience yelled out at a predator bird "Go away!" and declaim this as a "bad show" when it didn't listen to her plea.

The music is a bit corny.

It was very ironic that this was playing in NYC in an art house theater where the adjacent screen was showing "9 Songs" restricted for 18 years+ tale of another male in Antarctica with sex on his mind.