I Thought I Was A Dedicated Dad…

I thought I was a pretty dedicated Dad – that is, until I watched March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition) last night. Emperor Penguin Dad’s are the true definition of dedication, delicately balancing their precious eggs on their feet to keep them off the ice covered ground (a penguin egg will freeze in seconds if it touches the ground) while covering them to protect them from the cold. They endure temperatures approaching -62 °C (-80 °F), and their only source of water is snow that falls around them. By the time the females return from feeding, male penguins have lost half their weight and have not eaten for four months. Man, I go 4 hours without eating and I’m a wreck.

This is the first full length feature we have watched with The Girl (now 2 1/2) and I was surprised how well it held her interest, considering it is not animated and it is quite slow (yet beautifully filmed). She didn’t make it through the whole film – her attention waning after 45 minutes or so – but it was still nice to see that something like a nature film can capture her attention.

The only thing that marred the viewing was the previews on the DVD, which (thank goodness) we were able to fast forward through relatively quickly. I mean, I know studios need to promote their upcoming movies, but the decision to include previews for Nouvelle-France that consisted of numerous battle & suggestive sex scenes, and some movie about capital punishment that consisted of a man being forcibly strapped to a table in preparation for lethal injection seems like a bad idea. Certainly the studio must realize that this is a film that families will be watching – it’s too bad the previews didn’t reflect this.