Penguins Anyone?

Morgan Freeman's hypnotic voice captivates you and draws you into an icy world that is undeniably beautiful. The plot... the arduous life cycle of penguins. Here we will meet a plethora of penguins doing exactly what penguins do. They eat, mate, birth, incubate and hatch. Sound simple? It really isn't as easy as you would think.
We are shown hundreds of penguins trekking across the ever-frozen Antarctica from many different directions, as much as 70 miles on a mission to mate. Once they have mated (monogamously for the year)the mother proceeds to lay a single egg which she then rolls carefully from the top of her feet to the top of the father's feet where he is hidden beneath Dad until time to hatch. All assuming the egg will hatch at all. Predators are a chronic problem and if the egg should accidentally touch the ice it will freeze to death.
Mom then makes the hike (don't forget it's as much as 70 miles) back to feed as she has lost approximately one-third of her body weight in the process. She is weakened and tired and hungry at this point but she has to deal with hungry predators, getting lost along the way and sometimes overwhelming exhaustion. And then, when she has eaten her fill, she trks back to Dad and Baby.
With temperatures as low as 80 degrees below zero and winds as strong as 125 miles per hour she hurries back to take care of the new chick so Dad can take a turn at the feeding trek.
Fabulous cinematography captures the biting cold beauty of this mostly unexplored terrain. It is amazing how fascinating it becomes, how compelling the drama of true life can be. Though I must throw in a caution...my grandson at the age of 7 was devastated to the point of tears at the sight of a frozen baby chick lying on the ice.
I highly recommend this movie for everyone.

One Documentary You Don't Want To Miss!

This is an incredible movie/documentary. Absolutely stunning, and this from a person who never watches animal shows or national geographic. I really never liked those but when I saw this movie, from the first minute I was hooked. Morgan Freedman narrates which I though was an excellent choice. The warmth in his tone goes well with this film. The documentary begins at the start of mating season, when the male penguins all leave the open waters of Antarctica for land/ice to meet the female penguins and begin their 9 month long mating process. They travel far distances to a central location far from the waters edge where the ice is snow to begin their mating ritual. But they are very choosy and they spend days examining one another in order to find the right mate- and even some go without. Once the mating is done, they await the egg which is where the trouble begins. They must hold on to this egg for dear life in those harsh weather conditions many eggs die and so after much ‘training’ the mother leaves to go for food leaving the father with the egg for the remainder of the eggs cycle. When the baby is born the mothers return and feed them and now it is their turn to stay with the baby until the father returns. The process is lengthy and we see the hardship they go through for their child, even before it is born – and we thought labor was tough! I cannot describe the movie, I just have to say you become attached to these penguins and their way of life. Make sure you watch the special scenes and the making of, they reveal a lot more information there which isn’t stated in the film. After seeing this, we now want to own it!

The story of Life on this planet

This movie can put us in our place. When we think life is tough, when we think our problems are overwhelming, when we have a litany of complaints, a story like this gives us some perspective.

March of the Penguins is very much a testament to the evolutionary process. The emperor penguin is a bird that cannot fly, walks awkwardly and with difficulty, but swims well. To reproduce, it must leave the sea and traverse some 70 miles of frozen antarctic wasteland several times, endure extreme cold and wind, and go without eating for months at a time. Many do not succeed in producing young, and many others do not survive the trip, but they all fully dedicate themselves to the effort. Without such inborn drive, such willingness to sacrifice themselves, these animals could not exist.

Hats off to the men who made this movie, since that took much dedication as well. The camera work is marvelous, and the story well told. It's hard to go wrong having Morgan Freeman narrate it.

The ironic postscript to the tale of these penguins is how their numbers have dramatically fallen since the movie was filmed. Apparently, environmental changes due to global warming are threatening their survival. While the emperor penguins have survived for millions of years in the harshest environment on the earth's surface, they are now facing destruction because of man's growing presence on that planet.

March of the Penguins

I thought that this was an excellent movie about the lives of penguins.I never realized how much the penguins had to endure in order to keep there species alive. After watching this I have a lot a respect for these simple,humble and brave birds who make there home in the ocean but every year thousands of there species make there home on Antarctica for 9 months. During these 9 months they have to endure extreme weather conditions. They have to starve for several months and they have to walk back and forth from the ocean in order to feed there little chicks who was fortunate enough to survive. In order to keep there species from becoming a memory. My hats off to those men who filmed this and who sacrificed there lives for 9 months to film these amazing creatures. Morgan Freeman also did an excellent job telling there story. If you like nature flims buy or rent this DVD today you will be impressed with there incredible story. Overall 5 Stars! A++++++++++++++++ all around. I hope this review will move some of you to a least check this film out.

Excellent movie - Penguins are majestic

I have always been intrigued by penguins. I heard that it was narrated by Morgan Freeman so I decided to check it out. It totally blew me away. It is sort of a documentary without the all the boring parts. The movie is about the life of emperor penguins from birth to adulthood. This movie outlines the journey they take each and every year to where they were born to hatch their own young and thoroughly shows the struggles the beautiful little creatures have to face. It is a heart-warming film that deserves all the praise it has recieved. Very much recommended!
I watched the hd dvd in a xbox360 hd drive with no problems.