March of the Penguins

I totally forgot that I saw this movie with the kids. It was the three of us. This movie is making some money despite the lack of commercialized storyline and summer box office appeal. It’s hard to tell from the lack of patrons at the theater during the 11:00 Saturday morning show.

We bought popcorn and waited for the movie to start. An older couple came in and made their way to seats directly behind us. I was like, ‘why would they want to sit right behind us with all these seats in the theater?’ Then I heard the lady say, ‘lets sit here so we can hear the kids.’ Whew. I was like, ‘good I don’t have to shush them too much during the movie’.

The movie was 84 minutes long. That’s not even feature length and it has made more money than “The Island”. Was “The Island” that bad? Theaters have dropped that movie like a load of bricks. There are more theaters playing “March of the Penguins” than “The Island” now. How could it be that bad? Was it?

MofP was a documentary style film with Morgan Freeman narrating. It was well done. But, I have to admit, about 30 minutes too long. It’s a good 1 hour television type show to watch. I did learn a lot. But with about 30 minutes left, the kids were really getting bored.

The one thing I really found captivating was how they movie showed the unconditional love (and monogamous relationship) a pair of penguins seem to have for each other and their baby. When the two parents fall in love and court each other prior to mating is pretty amazing and quite romantic. It’s like a very deep love affair. The emotional pain they go through when some lose their young to the cold or other factors seems, as Morgan Freeman says, “Unbearable”.

Kids Bella’s age (2) were captivated by the movie for the first hour. One comment Bella made at the beginning of the movie when the Penguins would glide or slide on their belly when they tire was, “I wanna do that.” The lady behind us giggled.

I recommend this simple movie to just about anyone.