I finally rented the DVD and I watched it last night. The movie is on my new top 10 list - amazing.
I want a male penguin as my next boyfriend!
Quack! 
That was an amazing movie. I learned so much!
But what they failed to impart is just how many penguin species there are. I think there are 7 or 8. Did you know that they are in South America, Africa, and Australia? And as far north as the Galapagos Islands?
They actually can make good pets, though all the usual caveats about wild animals apply. There’s one in particular in Japan (or it may be Korea, sorry) that waddles a few blocks to the market each morning to get fish for the house. The merchant always tosses the penguin a fish of its own, and it carries the rest back home in a backpack. Cutest thing ever.
Wow! That’s cool!
I love penguins and suggest you now go on to Attenborough’s Life in the Freezer. I actually didn’t like March of the Penguins too much, they kept trying to show how penguins had all these “emotions” like true love and crap. Um…they’re dumb stupid birds! Morgan Freeman did a great job…but no one can measure up to Attenborough!
tdn, that video’s on youtube. Just search for shopping penguin.
My head is on the verge of exploding. That is too awesome for words.
Here ya go.
[…awww…] 
Thank you for that! The cute, it burns!
You can buy bird diapers in various sizes. The labels indicate what type of birds fit which sizes. One of them says it fits penguins.
Just some info you could use if you get really carried away.
(Found this out just last weekend, BTW.)
Yeah but you’re not allowed to keep them as pets in the States, are you?
…Are you?
'Cause if that’s wrong I’m buying one tonight.
My opinion exactly. Attenborough’s documentary was superb, but this penguin movie anthropomorphized too much.
Penguins are not very bright birds. They do what they do because of instinct, not because of some noble philisophical morality that they espouse. This is not to take away from the toughness and survival instinct of the species, but jeesh.
I still liked the cinematography, though.
I thought it was overrated. I’ve seen non-film shows on the same subject that I thought were better.
But I gotta get me a penguin.
I agree 100%. Bottom line is I can’t recommend it because it’s entertainment dishonestly packaged as education. Worse, it’s *moralizing *entertainment packaged as science. I’d watched enough documentaries on penguins to raise an eyebrow as I started watching it, but what really red-flagged was when, off in the distance, a penguin slips and falls on its back, and the soundtrack had a perfectly matched foley effect. This is NOT a documentary, I thought. And then when Morgan Freeman began intoning all the anthropomorphic crap, I had a hard time finishing it.
But pretty!
I visited the Galapagos islands in '04, and yes there are penguins there…just barely. They took a beating from El Nino, and we were told there were only 30 some left in the islands. We actually went snorkelling with some, and saw about 10 of them - a full 1/3 of the population !
As with most of the wildlife in the Galapagos, we were able to swim right up to the rocks where they were sunning, and they didn’t mind. It was tough to get shots of them underwater, though. They are fast swimmers !
What’s wrong with anthropomorphizing? It’s just metaphors. Every single goddam thing doesn’t have to be a science textbook, does it?
You’ll probably enjoy this ad that ran in France a year back or so.
If you like the penguins, I’d suggest you rent The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, where the birds do have personalities, where you feel true sadness and loss, and which has one of the most delightful twist endings in film.
A little touchy, aren’t we? This is why it bothers me:
If they packaged it as purely entertainment that’s one thing. Besides, I simply think it couldn’t hurt for people to know more.
It’s been a while since I saw the movie, but did they say anything that’s actually false? If not, what harm is it?
I think the film appeals to a wider market with the added music and narration. I learned quite a bit from the film - that’s a positive in my opinion.
As you say, there may be better documentaries on penguins but I rented the film as entertainment and learned something in the process.
I can’t see anything wrong with that.