March of the Penguins (2005)
Runtime: 80 mins
Theatrical Release: Jun 24, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $77,413,017
Synopsis: Coming from a French director, Luc Jacquet, the miraculous MARCH OF THE PENGUINS would have to be a love story. And so it is. The film explores the mating rituals of the emperor penguin, one of the most resilient animals on earth. Each summer, after a nourishing period of deep-sea feeding, the... Coming from a French director, Luc Jacquet, the miraculous MARCH OF THE PENGUINS would have to be a love story. And so it is. The film explores the mating rituals of the emperor penguin, one of the most resilient animals on earth. Each summer, after a nourishing period of deep-sea feeding, the penguins pop up onto the ice and begin their procession across the frozen tundra of Antarctica. Walking doggedly in single file, they are a sight to behold. Hundreds converge from every direction, moving instinctively toward their mating ground. Once there, they mingle and chatter until they find the perfect mate--a monogamous match that will last a year, through the brutal winter and into the spring. During that time, the mother will give birth to an egg and then leave for the ocean to feed again. The father will stay to protect the egg through the freezing blizzards and pure darkness of winter, which would be deadly to practically any other species. Finally, with spring, the egg hatches and the baby penguins are born. Mothers return from the sea to reunite with their families and feed the starving newborns, while the fathers are finally relieved of their protective duties after months without food. This remarkable story is narrated by Morgan Freeman, whose dignified voice gives the penguins the grave admiration they deserve. But even more incredible is the photography, which shows the penguins hunting underwater, sliding on the ice, and even what definitely looks like kissing. At one point the camera even zooms inside the mouth of a penguin as it regurgitates food for its young. A story of love and, more strikingly, survival, MARCH OF THE PENGUINS is a stirring, eye-opening, and educational experience. [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Screenwriter: Luc Jacquet, Michel Fessler
Producer: Yves Darondeau, Christophe Lioud, Emmanuel Priou
Composer: Alex Wurman
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
It's a rather offensively human-centered approach to what should be a mystifying and beautiful experience.
Director Jacquet has cleverly figured out a way to anthropomorphise his wondrous, web-footed subjects, as they deal with hunger, rejection, loss, loneliness, and sensuality.
plays like a high-end Discovery Channel special, but it's compelling and beautiful just the same
A miracle of a film, March of the Penguins is one of the year's joys. This extraordinary glimpse into the life of the emperor penguins is far more than a story of survival: it is a unique love story of immense proportions.
To human observers, the ways in which animal behavior variously resembles or contrasts with human behavior is an inexhaustible source of fascination.
Contando com dois diretores de fotografia, A Marcha dos Pingüins traz um cenário impressionante, com suas geleiras imensas e a sempre fascinante aurora austral.
Who would've guessed that one of the hottest summer movies takes place in Antarctica and stars penguins?
The film goes beyond a nature movie with excellent photography and the determination of the animals it documents.
Luc Jacquet's March Of The Penguins is, astoundingly, the second most successful documentary ever made.
...as beautiful a documentary of its type as you'll ever see...reminding us again of Nature's complexity and its indomitable will to survive.
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March of the Penguins at IGN
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