Having heard nothing but wonderful things about this slippery little film about waddling flightless birds, I finally took the opportunity to screen it.

Magical blue and white landscapes punctuated by black and white Emperor Penguins stringing like dominoes across the snow and ice. How can that not take your breath away? These determined critters standing up on their little tiny feet waddle 70 miles and more from sea to breeding ground. You’ve got to admire that. But their impressive dedication to their youth doesn’t end there. I could summarize the action in the film with one rather long sentence – but I’d hate to spoil the egg. So I won’t.

Despite the bitter cold, and save for a few unpleasantries (i.e.: deaths), the film has a warm family friendliness to it. And early on, it makes a pretty good date film with the penguins pairing up and all – I’m not kidding, really, it’s quite romantic. You could even call it the ultimate chic flick (okay, now I’m kidding – punning actually).

A very pleasant film overall. Highlights include grainy photography of penguins darting underwater like jets in a dogfight. Lowlights include awkward insertions of landscape shots that don’t match either in colorscape or texture. And even though the film is only 80 minutes, I started to have my fill of penguins at about 55 – but then again, I didn’t bring a date.

Btw, if you like this, you’ve got to see Winged Migration .

This film screened at Yelm Cinemas.