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View Larger Picture of March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition)

March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition)

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March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition)
Features:
  • AC-3
  • Closed-captioned
  • Color
  • Dolby
  • Dubbed
  • Subtitled
  • Widescreen
  • NTSC
    Rating: G (General Audience)
    DVD
    Description: March of the Penguins instantly qualifies as a wildlife classic, taking its place among other extraordinary films like Microcosmos and Winged Migration. French filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his devoted crew endured a full year of extreme conditions in Antarctica to capture the life cycle of Emperor penguins on film, and their diligence is evident in every striking frame of this 80-minute documentary. Narrated in soothing tones by Morgan Freeman, the film focuses on a colony of hundreds of Emperors as they return, in a single-file march of 70 miles or more, to their frozen breeding ground, far inland from the oceans where they thrive. At times dramatic, suspenseful, mischievous and just plain funny, the film conveys the intensity of the penguins' breeding cycle, and their treacherous task of protecting eggs and hatchlings in temperatures as low as 128 degrees below zero. There is some brief mating-ritual violence and sad moments of loss, but March of the Penguins remains family-friendly throughout, and kids especially will enjoy the Antarctic blue-ice vistas and the playful, waddling appeal of the penguins, who can be slapstick clumsy or magnificently graceful, depending on the circumstances. A marvel of wildlife cinematography, this unique film offers a front-row seat to these amazing creatures, balancing just enough scientific information with the entertaining visuals. --Jeff Shannon
  • Average Customer Rating:

    Wow - Terrific Nature Film

    I was thoroughly entranced by this film, and surprised that what I thought would be an educational experience was also inspirational. Don't miss this one.

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    Captivating

    We were hypnotized by these fascinating creatures and their
    courage and stamina. I would recommend this film for both children and adults. It is quite an incite into these creatures lives and what they have to endure and the care and protection of their young.

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    10 star enchantment

    This movie had me from the start. Not only is the cinematography breath taking, as most National Geographic pieces are, but the French production people set up their shots in such a unique and beautiful manner that one almost forgot that you are watching thousands of penguins during a years time of gathering to hatching new life, to returning to the sea, and become yourself one of them, as if one is watching their own herd. The distant and up close photography via film of first the males, making the arduous seventy mile trek to their nesting area, which is also the nesting area where a few years earlier they themselves were hatched, to then witnessing the females making the same trek, is mesmerizing.

    The producers show them pausing, as the ice shifts and they get their bearings and one becomes the leader and continues the trek in the right direction. Finally weeks later arriving at their destination where they find a mate. One feels bad for the females who because there are more males than females, and the penguins being seasonal monogamous, will not lay and egg because they cant find a mate. Later on these same single penguin females will once the chicks are hatched, will try to steal a chick, only to be stopped by the flock.

    Then one witnesses the females and males practicing passing the egg that has been laid, carefully to one another and finally to the male, who as the movie notes, balances the egg like a tight rope walker, on his feet, in such a way that the fury feathered apron that is on his lower abdomen can cover the egg, and thus protect it from the harsh elements. Then the mother has to leave and walk the same seventy miles, back to the sea where she will spend weeks, eating as much fish as she can, so she can make the return trek back to her then hatched chick, where she will regurgitate and feed her chick.

    And harsh the elements are, as we witness one hundred mile per hour gale winds with sleet and snow, pounding down on the males as they huddle together in a tight mass so as to help keep each other warm. Taking turns being in the center of the mass of males so that each has a turn at being in the warmest area. But watching the wind lash their bodies, ice on their beaks, and the eggs precarious at times as they move with the wind blowing is such an example of how a parent will risk all to save their young.

    Then weeks later, and half their weight, the males hatch the egg and we witness wee babies carefully taking a peek at the world from beneath the safety of fathers warmth. Returning just as quickly to this warm cocoon, just as another harsh storm hits. Sadly we also witness some chicks becoming dislodged as father moves to quickly. Same with when the eggs are first laid and for a brief moment the egg slips from the safety of the mothers warmth and the harsh cold instantly freezes the egg and we see it crack, destroying the life within it.

    But then weeks later the mothers return, stomachs full, ready to nourish her chick. Sadly some will discover chicks that have not survived. While others wont return at all because seals have captured them as food themselves. Sadly the chicks that have hatched and are waiting, will themselves die, because there will be no female to feed them.

    Soon we witness the chicks as they emerge from the mothers fury feather warmth, to take their first steps and to bid their fathers good bye, since the fathers role has basically ended. So its just the mothers and chicks left and within a few weeks even the mothers will leave and the newly feathered chicks will themselves discover the sea as the ice melts and they begin the cycle all over.

    Morgan Freemans eloquent and nicely paced voice is a perfect match for the visual beauty of the movie, with him sharing each phase of the penguins journey. This is a movie that enthralled me more than I ever imagined and is a movie that all ages will love.

    Why anyone would give it less than a five star review is beyond me....

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