# March of The Penguins
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 29, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350 "2007-08-29T12:53:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/1 "2007-08-29T12:53:27Z")
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!
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/2 "2007-08-29T13:12:34Z")
Quack! š
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?
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/3 "2007-08-29T14:05:56Z")
They actually can make good pets, though all the usual caveats about wild animals apply. Thereās 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.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/4 "2007-08-29T14:07:34Z")
Wow! Thatās cool!
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/5 "2007-08-29T14:10:18Z")
I love penguins and suggest you now go on to Attenboroughās Life in the Freezer. I actually didnāt like March of the Penguins too much, they kept trying to show how penguins had all these āemotionsā like true love and crap. Umā¦theyāre dumb stupid birds! Morgan Freeman did a great jobā¦but no one can measure up to Attenborough! š
tdn, that videoās on youtube. Just search for shopping penguin.
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### Author:  [@I\_m\_No\_Saint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_m_No_Saint)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/6 "2007-08-29T14:14:42Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal]
They actually can make good pets, though all the usual caveats about wild animals apply. Thereās 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.
[/QUOTE]
My head is on the verge of exploding. That is too awesome for words.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/7 "2007-08-29T14:16:51Z")
Here ya go.
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Nc1kvAF3A)
[ā¦awwwā¦] š
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/8 "2007-08-29T14:24:42Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Here ya go.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for that! The cute, it burns!
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/9 "2007-08-29T19:37:35Z")
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.)
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/10 "2007-08-29T19:38:56Z")
Yeah but youāre not allowed to keep them as pets in the States, are you?
ā¦Are you?
'Cause if thatās wrong Iām buying one tonight.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/11 "2007-08-29T19:58:37Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika]
I love penguins and suggest you now go on to Attenboroughās Life in the Freezer. I actually didnāt like March of the Penguins too much, they kept trying to show how penguins had all these āemotionsā like true love and crap. Umā¦theyāre dumb stupid birds! Morgan Freeman did a great jobā¦but no one can measure up to Attenborough! š
tdn, that videoās on youtube. Just search for shopping penguin.
[/QUOTE]
My opinion exactly. Attenboroughās 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.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/12 "2007-08-29T20:44:01Z")
[QUOTE=jali]
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!
[/QUOTE]
I thought it was overrated. Iāve seen non-film shows on the same subject that I thought were better.
But I gotta get me a penguin.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/13 "2007-08-29T22:49:47Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown]
My opinion exactly. Attenboroughās 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.
[/QUOTE]
I agree 100%. Bottom line is I canāt recommend it because itās entertainment dishonestly packaged as education. Worse, itās \*moralizing \*entertainment packaged as science. Iād 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!
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### Author:  [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/14 "2007-08-29T23:50:03Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Quack! š
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?
[/QUOTE]
I visited the Galapagos islands in '04, and yes there are penguins thereā¦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 didnāt mind. It was tough to get shots of them underwater, though. They are fast swimmers !
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2007, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/15 "2007-08-30T08:42:52Z")
Whatās wrong with anthropomorphizing? Itās just metaphors. Every single goddam thing doesnāt have to be a science textbook, does it?
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/16 "2007-08-30T10:00:36Z")
Youāll probably enjoy this ad that ran in France a year back or so.
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_mlwnAmr0)
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/17 "2007-08-30T12:30:47Z")
If you like the penguins, Iād suggest you rent **[The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0424565/)**, 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.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/18 "2007-08-30T13:09:06Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Whatās wrong with anthropomorphizing? Itās just metaphors. Every single goddam thing doesnāt have to be a science textbook, does it?
[/QUOTE]
A little touchy, arenāt we? This is why it bothers me:
> [@](#):
>
> itās entertainment dishonestly packaged as education
If they packaged it as purely entertainment thatās one thing. Besides, I simply think it couldnāt hurt for people to know _more_.
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/19 "2007-08-30T13:24:47Z")
Itās been a while since I saw the movie, but did they say anything thatās actually false? If not, what harm is it?
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### Author:  [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-of-the-penguins/417350/20 "2007-08-30T13:36:35Z")
I think the film appeals to a wider market with the added music and narration. I learned quite a bit from the film - thatās 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 canāt see anything wrong with that.
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