March of the Penguins
Luc Jacquet and his team traveled down to Antarctica to document the journey of emperor penguins on their way to their breeding ground. Seemingly hard-wired, these emperor penguins make this 70+ mile trek every year and meet up with fellow penguins to mate. Once there, it doesn't end. The true test of survival still awaits them as their chick needs nine months to fully mature. As a result, the penguins must endure a harsh winter protecting first an egg, then their small baby as they stand there with only the food they had stored months before.

In the hands of Hollywood, this story may have been more explicit and violent. In the hands of Disney, two penguins may have faced the treachery of hyenas or something and seen visions of a genie before the happy ending of a family reunited. Instead, we have the very simple hand of documenting with the capable, and sometimes witty, commentary from voice-over go-to-guy Morgan Freeman to make the rough tale of these penguins informative and entertaining. One must admire the extraordinary lengths the filmmakers went through to get the footage they did, especially considering how their landscape is pretty much endless ice, not filled with the luscious colors we're so used to seeing when watching this type of documentary. There are some lengthy stretches of silence with footage which seems repetitive that make the film slow down considerably but one look at a chick entering the ocean for the first time will have you applaud its accomplishment and appreciate the dedication of a mother and father who endured the long winter to bring forth life. It is much more than a simple love story. 3.5 stars