FamilyCorner Gives It:

Audience: 7 and older (any younger will lose interest)

MPAA Rating: G for General Audiences

Profanity: None

Nudity/Sex: Penguins mate, but they don't show it

Alcohol/Drugs: None

Violence/Scariness: A couple of penguins die, and some babies, sea lion kills penguin

Diversity Issues: Strength, perseverence

Release Date: June 24th, 2005

I knew as soon as this movie came out I wanted to see it. I love documentaries, nature, and animals. This film contains all of that and then some.

In this amazing footage, we spend an entire year with a flock of Emperor penguins as they walk almost 70 miles to breed, go without food for months, and face weather that could easily kill a human being. We learn a little about the history of the land in Antarctica's barren wilderness, and that the Emperor penguin's ancestors chose to stay when all other life left for a warmer climate.

It's an amazing story really, to learn that these creatures travel so far to keep their species alive. They come out of the sea and start walking toward the breeding ground. This walk takes 2 months and the line of penguins stretches across the open wilderness for what seems like forever. The film's narrator, Morgan Freeman, tells us that there are over 7,000 penguins marching toward a common destination. I found those incredible scenes themselves worth following the entire story!

What follows after the penguins reach the breeding ground is a beautiful act of courtship and love. There is a true affection shown for each other, a tenderness that I have not seen in any other animal besides humans. Our penguin friends mate, hatch an egg, then the egg is passed from mother to father and the females head back to the sea to feed. This trek will take the females two months to get back, while the fathers face heartless ice storms protecting their eggs.

The mothers feed and return shortly after the chicks have hatched. The babies are now passed back to the mothers to feed, while the fathers head back to the sea to eat, a luxury they havent had in roughly four months.

You find yourself asking why these creatures walk such a long way. Why not breed closer to the ocean? We then learn that as the months pass, and before the egg hatches, the ocean is once again growing larger as the ice melts. Therefore, traveling such a long distance takes the animals to the only place safe enough where the ice is thick and won't melt. Once it is time for the families to return to the ocean, most of the ice has melted, making the entrance to the sea much closer to the breeding ground.

If you decide to watch this film as a family, keep these few things in mind:

• There are a few scenes of mild violence that small or more sensitive children may be upset by. For example, when the mothers return to feed, one of them is eaten by a sea lion. In another scene, baby penguins are pecked at by a predator bird, and in yet another, we see that the storm has claimed several of the unhatched eggs and even a father penguin.
  
  
• I doubt that children under the age of seven will remain engaged with this film. It is a documentary in the true sense of the word. It's not very colorful as we see mostly black and white penguins and white tundra. If your child can handle watching a documentary on the Discovery Channel, they'll be able to handle this.
  
  
• There are some great DVD extras if you have older children that are intrigued by this film as I was. There is a piece called Penguins and Man that focuses on the making of the film. I was rather shocked to see that the filmmakers actually spent quite a bit of time outside with the animals. I had just assumed that they set the cameras up and watched from the warmth of base camp.

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About the Author
Reviewed by FamilyCorner editor, Amanda Formaro

March of the Penguins
In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family. This courtship will begin with a long journey - a journey that will take them hundreds of miles across the continent by foot, in freezing cold temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on earth, all to find true love.

DVD Features:
Documentaries: CRITTERCAM : EMPEROR PENGUINS: penguin diving and feeding
Documentary: OF MEN AND PENGUINS: The incredible filmmaking process of the movie
Other: 8 BALL BUNNY: A classic WB animated short with Bugs Bunny and a penguin

Check it out here

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