March of the Penguins
A test of endurance for both the filmmakers and their subjects, March of the Penguins is one of the more unique documentaries to come along in quite a while. Dozens of colonies of emperor penguins populate the shores of Antarctica, and each colony has their own particular breeding ground to which they return every year. The particular colony documented in this film marches 70 miles inland from the sea where they will pair up with only one mate and produce an egg. That's when it gets interesting. The mothers march back to the sea to stock up on food for their chicks while the fathers wait through the unimaginably brutal Antarctic winter while balancing the egg on their feet for three months. You'd think evolution could have served this species a little better. The film's script and Morgan Freeman's empathetic narration try to turn the rote documentary format into a love story with moderate success; but it's hard to forget the birds are operating solely on instinct, no matter how romantic the deplorable conditions endured by the penguins may make it seem.
- April 19, 2006
DVD Extras
The "making of" feature, instead of focusing on how the filmmakers accomplished what they did under those conditions, is more like watching the documentary again without Freeman's narration. Also included is a dopey fluff piece about National Geographic's "Critter Cam."