National Post (National Edition)
Nature doc tries to get penguins just right
March of the Penguins is a lie. They don’t march. At best they waddle, slipping or tripping every fifth or sixth step and making a sound like a dropped squeaky toy. It’s only when they get in the water that the reason becomes clear. Adélie penguins are built to fly; just not in the air. In the water, they are grace incarnate. Once they hop back on land, they become Jerry Lewis in a tuxedo.
The latest Disneynature production, co-directed by Jeff Wilson and by famed doc-maker Alastair Fothergill, heads to the coast of Antarctica and a colony of the adorable, two-foot-tall avians. The focus is on an individual five-year-old bird — let’s call him Steve — who is making his first attempt at building a nest and raising a family.
Ed Helms narrates the film and also provides the inner monologue of Steve — he’s narracting! His mate, Adeline, gets no voice at all, but I’m going to give Disney a pass because most of their nature films have focused on mama bears, mama monkeys, mama cats, etc. Penguins are one of the few species where dads do their share of the work.
The film runs a kid-friendly 76 minutes and is silent about climate change and shy on science — any facts we learn about Adélie penguins are purely a byproduct of Steve’s adventures. But not every nature doc has to be a teachable moment. Children and grownups will lap up the birds’ charming antics.
It’s worth adding a spoiler here to the effect that, while we do see some penguins, um, find their way into the food chain, neither Steve nor any member of his family is doomed. (Or if they were, the filmmakers must have substituted look-alike penguins.) There are some very close calls, but your little ones will not be scarred by this outing.
The production company has a dozen films under its belt and, as has become their style, ends the movie with scenes of the crew at work. They seem to have had it easier than most. Sure, it was cold, but at least their quarry had neither the desire to eat them (see African Cats) nor to flee from them; see Ghost of the Mountains, about the elusive snow leopard.
In fact, explorers have been entranced with the species for more than a century. Apsley Cherry-garrard, a survivor of the 1910 Scott expedition, wrote: “Whatever a penguin does has individuality, and he lays bare his whole life for all to see ... he is fighting against bigger odds than any other bird, and fighting always with the most gallant pluck.” That’s Steve in an eggshell.•••• Penguins opens across Canada on April 17.