As Earth Day approaches, we can always depend on yet, another documentary from Disneynature to fulfill our yearning for a better planet. From "Earth" to "Oceans" to "African Cats" to "Bears", we are offered a breathtaking expose photographed exquisitely in order to teach us all about our planet in an effective, yet entertaining way. So now in the offing we are given "Penguins" to further our lessons about the planet in which we live.
Disneynature's all-new feature film, "Penguins" is a coming-of-age story about an Adelie penguin named Steve who joins millions of fellow males in the icy Antarctic spring on a quest to build a suitable nest, find a life partner and start a family. None of it comes easily for him, especially considering he's targeted by everything from killer whales to leopard seals, who unapologetically threaten his happily ever after. From the filmmaking team behind "Bears" and "Chimpanzee", this film opens in theaters in time for Earth Day 2019 which is actually on 4-22-19.
This was exquisitely and tastefully directed by Alastair Fothergill ("Deep Blue" '03, "Earth" '07, "African Cats" (co-dir.) '11, "Chimpanzee" '12, "Bears" '14, "Monkey Kingdom" (co-dir.) '15, "Blue" (co-dir.) '18) plus TV and a video, and Jeff Wilson (TV documentaries). What truly makes this documentary as genuine as it is, is that Fothergill is a documentarian in the purest sense--they are the only genre he creates which we are the victors of this knowledge. Antarctica is the most grueling, yet beautiful place on the planet, yet these directors, photographers and their team go out there and spend a plethora of time--years in most cases to capture the best shots in order to tell their story so we can learn more about the subject matter they are conveying to their audiences--in this case, penguins. The narration writing is by David Fowler ("Born in China" (documentary) '16, "Growing Up Wild" (documentary) '16, "Welcome to the Circle" '17) plus a short. While documentary writing is this writer's forte, he has written the 'normal' screenplays as well, and he as adept with one as with the other. As opposed to the other Disneynature documentaries, this not only as the typical narration, but uses a voice-over for what we could expect what Steve is processing in his mind. Both narration and the voice-over of Steve are perfectly portrayed by actor Ed Helms. He has the perfect 'voice' of Steve--the tonality of the actor's voice simply fits that of Steve. The one documentary I can akin this film to is that of "March of the Penguins" '05, narrated by Morgan Freeman and is about the life and times of the Emperor penguin. This film chronicles the Adelie penguin. It will be interesting to see Fowler's next project "Dolphin Reef" which has been completed and surely will be released soon. This is truly a must see. The actual stars of this are the photographers namely cinematographer Rolf Steinmann and principle photography by Sophie Darlington, Ted Giffords, Mark Smith and others.
Other than the breathtaking photography done in a nifty IMAX format, the aspect one should take from this is the fact these penguins, once they find their life partner, they mate for life, which is something we should reflect on since people today divorce at the drop of a hat. And with as much as the penguins go through in such an unforgiving landscape, one might think they would give up on each other out of survival, but they truly stick together. Amazing! See this on the big screen because it will lose everything on a 50 incher.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: G 76mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment