XDA

Saw March of the Penguins with youngest Daughter at the Mayan today. It turns out to be a French film that originally had voices for the penguins and a pop soundtrack. I am thankful that ours had Morgan Freeman narrating a pretty straightforward documentary. I had read a lot about Antarctica (where it is set--penguins live in the southern oceans only and a lot of them are on the edge of and in the seas around Antarctica) so Daughter was surprised that I knew what a leopard seal was and that skua gulls would attack the chicks. The film is about Emperor penguins, the largest, who after they hit breeding age (at 5) have to go to extraordinary lengths to hatch the egg and raise the chick in the cold dark winter there.

The penguins themselves are beautiful with hints and highlights of a saffron orange on the head and neck, and white, grey and black everywhere else. The scenery was absolutely magnificent. Man, but that place must be freaking cold.

You really did learn all there is to know about Emperor penguins. There were some young kids in the theatre and they delighted in the moments of anthropomorphic humor. Pretty good flick.

All through the movie, you're thinking they look about 4 feet tall. I don't know why, but I thought they'd come up to my sternum. Maybe it was the scale of the water or ice or other clues from the surroundings, but I was shocked to see at the end, when the credits rolled and the photographers were shown next to the penguins that they barely cleared the peoples' knees. Make that 2 feet tall. Daughter thought that too. Weird. Go see it. Even if you don't want to learn anything, it's a beautiful light show and less than an hour and a half long.