Watching "March of the Penguins" only reminds us of just how shallow and shoddy the character development and overall level of storytelling in mainstream film has fallen.
This enthralling, French-made documentary feature follows hundreds of emperor penguins as they trek across the Antarctic wilderness to find mates and reproduce. It's a life-and-death struggle that's much more compelling than any similar story line in any film so far this year.
The makers of this year's slew of phony and contrived romantic comedies should be required to watch "March of the Penguins" to see just how tender and rare a romance can be — even if that lesson is taught by a pair of somewhat comical looking flightless birds.
For this U.S. release, distributor Warner Independent Pictures removed the French voice-over (which included actors giving "voices" to some of the penguins), and the studio made a wise choice in selecting Morgan Freeman to narrate.
As he tells us, the penguins' harrowing journey takes them nearly 70 miles across the icy Antarctic shelf to their mating grounds, with the location being chosen out of safety concerns for their offspring. They then have to find a mate and hope that their coupling is successful.
There are also predators waiting to pick off the less hardy members of the pack. And in a couple of eerily beautiful scenes, the incredibly frigid Antarctic winter leads the penguins to huddle together to shelter themselves from the ice and cold.
Director Luc Jacquet has his cameras set at the penguins' level, in order to capture some of the most astonishing footage of the animals ever seen on film. Cinematographers Laurent Chalet and Jerome Maison also manage to capture some breathtaking underwater images, showing female penguins feasting once their pregnancy-induced "fast" is over.
Also, the animals shown in the film have considerable character. One of the more amusing scenes shows a female penguin falling down on the ice and then appearing to cuss.
The voice-over is not completely free of sticky sentiment and occasional bluster, but it seems appropriate here. And having Freeman deliver some of these lines does make them more palatable.
Also, stick around to watch the final credits, which show just what Jacquet and the camera crews went through to shoot their penguin subjects.
"March of the Penguins" is rated G, though it does contain some scenes of animal violence (a sea lion and gull attack), as well as some mildly suggestive material about penguin mating. Running time: 80 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com
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