Skip to Content

Adventures of the Penguin King

Adventures of the Penguin King HFofN

 

Rex, a young King Penguin, has been away from his home for three years, learning to hunt in the wild oceans, but now he’s back in Penguin City. His mission: to find a mate, settle down and raise a chick. But can he survive the numerous predators and the harsh conditions on an isolated island at the bottom of the world? This is the journey of a typical bachelor King Penguin, from awkward adolescent to accomplished adult. It’s a family tale of love and adventure, tragedy and triumph, all told through the charismatic and charming natural actors, the penguins of South Georgia. Stunning cinematography takes us into Penguin City, on an extraordinary sub-Antarctic island, home to majestic albatrosses, brawling elephant seals—and six million penguins. Narrator Tim Allen brings added warmth and humor to the tale, aided by a funny and dramatic script by Phillip LaZebnik (Pocahontas, Mulan, Prince of Egypt). Though our hero’s harsh world may be alien to our day-to-day lives, his struggle will be familiar to us all.

 

In Theaters December 6th – That’s TODAY!

 

Review

I received this video to preview before it hit theaters today, and I’m glad that I was able to check it out beforehand. I love that it speaks to adults as well as children, and that I was able to sit through it without fidgeting too much. I list pros and cons below, but overall, my suggestion is that it is a great film to take your children to see, especially inquisitive 5 year olds. The twizzlers did well with it, but I think that anything on a big screen would hold their attention more.

 

Pros:

Cinematography – The way that the film is shot is BEAUTIFUL. Think NOVA or NATURE on PBS shot in HD. The colors are vibrant, and the water looks like you can dip your toe in and immediately freeze. It’s that crisp.

Narrator – Tim Allen is a favorite voice around these parts. For Mr. Houseful and I it’s because we recognize him as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor AND Buzz Lightyear, while the kids just love him for the latter. He has lots of jokes and keeps your attention throughout.

Educational Overtones – I love the fact that this film was chock full of tidbits of information that was easily digestible for the ladybug. She had tons of questions about Penguings, sea lions, the birds (OMG the BIRDS in the beginning) and why the penguin chicks looked so much different than their moms and dads. It was fun fielding questions from her.

Cons:

I only had one issue with the film, and that was what seemed like odd editing. About 15 minutes into the film I realized that it wasn’t that, but the way that they were speaking WITH the penguin. His actions were erratic so therefore the narration was the same. It took a while for me to warm up to, but I eventually did, and therefore this isn’t a STRONG con for me.

Overall, I’m all for films that aren’t mindless, and that I can use to continue or START homeschool units within our Houseful, and I TOTALLY see a penguin unit coming up to coincide with this very brisk winter weather we are having.

There are a couple of scenes that REALLY had the ladybug fully focused, and it had a killer whale (orca) and Rex in it. Great filming once again.

If you still need some encouragement, here is a clip to tide you over.

 

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.