PENGUINS opens in 500+ theaters next weekend and I don't think is going to do as well expanding so fast. I think that's too many theaters at once. But there have been a ton of TV spots starting Thursday that I've seen and it looks really cute. It just may be able to be a documentary that breaks out a little and attracts families. I think it would be good for kids to see. It's educational. And the cinematography looks GORGEOUS! Plus the penguins look really cute. If this comes to my theater and I go see some big blockbuster I'll probably buy a ticket for this just to support it while going to see something else that doesn't need my money as much. I will rent it on DVD for sure though the first week it comes out. Of course, it might be nice to see something like this in theaters with this horribly hot weather we've been having. It would make you feel nice and cool.


I also want to see DEEP BLUE. Both I will be renting on DVD for sure and both have GORGEOUS posters.

The cinematography looks terrific in these films and it's the main reason I want to see them. I love beautiful cinematography. But they both also look really interesting, and PENGUINS looks very cute.

PENQUINS- they wear tuxedos, eat raw fish and do ice-slides on their stomachs... What else in life compares???
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I saw March of the Penguins and have to say I was underwhelmed by it. It really shows it's National Geographic roots in it's storytelling style - too darn anthropomorphic for my taste - even if it is nice to hear Morgan Freeman's voice interpreting the penguins emotions. Those penguin chicks are awful darn cute though!

If I saw this on PBS and it was edited down to an hour, I would be thrilled to see the beautiful cinematography from Antarctica and the very interesting complete life cycle of the Emperor penguin, but in the movie theatre it seemed long even at it's short 80 minute running time.

Part of the reason may also be that I just saw The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill last week - and that is an honest to goodness bird documentary masterpiece, so a straightforward doc like this one is bound to pale in comparison.

Unless you're a total penguin or bird freak, I'd recommend waiting for this one to play in endless reruns on the Discovery Channel...

3 out of 5.

Well it is showing at my local theater though I'm undecided whether or not I'll check it out. It looks interesting but I really don't know if it is worth it...

read bradley's post.

i loved it. he found it underwhelming. really ... the movie is amazing but its not even about if its your cup of tea .. its more about "how much of a cup of tea" is it to you.

I don't really wanna be the guy who prevents anyone even mildly interested from seeing a nature doc - this planet needs everyone to appreciate it's many aspects of wonder and beauty.

Read bAbA's review and feel his excitement - I felt the same way about Winged Migration and Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill - Maybe March of the Penguins will work for you...

(BTW - if you do, be sure to stay for the end credits where they show some outtakes of how they filmed it - this would have been a tough project!)

Which penquin was March?? ......................
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dot matrix, data control

"Pen-gu-ins is prac-tic-ally chickens!"

:mod:

l kinda wanted to see this, but there's still like...4, 5 movies in theaters l wanna see more...and l hated Winged Migration...so. oo. l dunno.

Just in case anyone was wondering, here is Deep Blue's box office performance so far:
[table][row]Weekend[col]Theaters[col]Gross[col]PTA[col]% Drop[col]Total[col]Chart Position[row]1[col]2[col]$8,373[col]$4,187[col]NEW[col]$8,373[col]65[row]2[col]2[col]$8,804[col]$4,402[col]5.15%[col]$21,657[col]65[row]3[col]4[col]$7,998[col]$2,000[col]-9.15%[col]$34,553[col]67[row]4[col]5[col]$5,113[col]$1,023[col]-36.07%[col]$43,479[col]79[row]5[col]5[col]$10,400[col]$2,080[col]103.40%[col]$56,098[col]62[row]5[col]5[col]$13,315[col]$2,663[col]28.03%[col]$59,013[col]66[row]5[col]2[col]$4,542[col]$2,271[col]-56.33%[col]$68,305[col]83[row]6[col]3[col]$5,520[col]$1,840[col]21.53%[col]$76,055[col]76[row]7[col]3[col]$6,300[col]$2,100[col]14.13%[col]$83,833[col]74[/table]This table brought to you by Excel2BB Converter. Created by Krem for World of KJ

IMO this is way better than Winged Migration. Its closer to Microcosmos but with narration that actually adds to the doc rather than present the agenda of the director. Yes, the penguins act like humans in a certain regard but thats because some aspects of life (survival, parental instinct, etc) cut across different species. They show you what the penguins go through to raise their young and survive the way they know how, they could have easily made comments about how the humans through global warming and climate change could eventually wipe out this species (that remains to be seen) but they do not. Any anthropomorphization is done by the viewer and not by the director singling out only the human like traits of a different species. The only cheese is the constant talk of love -since love is an emotion born of abstract thought in a human mind. Its more about devotion and reliance on members of your flock (or herd or pack or whatever a group of penguins is called). Just because shared traits exist between humans and other animals doesn't make for anthropomorphization as in this case they're just showing what the penguins do. Afterall, we're just animals too.

See it for the cute animals, the struggle they go through, the stunning images of Antarctica or just to see something none of us may ever see close up. I doubt you'd be dissapointed. Plus its National Geographic so its real and pretty near 100% unbiased.


BTW: does anyone know if this will see an IMAX release?

This seems better than WINGED MIGRATION, which was good and I gave a B-, but this one just looks better.

With this one doing so well I would LOVE to see a gorgeous dolphin documentary with breathtaking cinematography. Now THAT would be a documentary I might actually see in theaters. In fact, if it looked great and played around me I probably would.

There was a true IMAX doc from 2001 on dolphins called MacGillvary Freeman's Dolphins - narrated by Pierce Brosnan with a reggae soundtrack by Sting. I haven't seen it, but the specs sound promising...

I disagree about the level of anthroporphism and bias in March of the Penguins - it extended to a lot more than love, to a whole gamut of human emotions transposed onto these birds, such as grief, happiness, etc. I'm not saying that penguins don't have an emotional life, just that it is egocentric to assume that it mirrors ours. Plus, box office wise, it seems to have been an excellent decision - people in general love that cutesy animal stuff. It just doesn't suit my taste.

As for IMAX, I doubt it, unless they blow it up in the DMR process - in the outtakes at the end, you sure didn't see director Luc Jaquet hauling around an IMAX camera in the 100 mph winds...

Whoa, that sounds amazing, mostly because it's on IMAX and pretty much anything can be amazing on IMAX. Of course I've only seen one thing on an IMAX screen and that was when I was a kid for school. It was really cool.