Today was the perfect day to treat myself to a short and sweet matinee because I have been a big ball of anxiety lately. And Disney delivered with Penguins, as they document the life of an Adélie penguin. I am also just avoiding Endgame crowds until I can see it Monday. So an hour and fifteen minute nature film for kids seemed to be my answer.
Steve, the star of the show, is a two foot tall charismatic force of nature. And I often wondered during the movie: How in the hell did they film this?! The dedicated documentarians and cinematographers spent months out in Antartica following one penguin and his family. Their work is pretty freaking incredible. I have nothing but the utmost respect for their tenacity.
I’m always blown away by the amount of work it must have taken their team just to make this short documentary. And it made me eternally thankful for them because, who knows, in the future we’re not going to have the same biodiversity that we are currently taking for granted.
There really must be something humans find extraordinarily special about penguins specifically, though. I can see why. They’re the birds that cannot fly, they have to move awkwardly across hundred of miles of ice and rock, and face off against huge predators from land and sea. I am not going to lie, I really identified with Steve in a lot of ways. However, I would consider myself lucky if I had even an ounce of strength that Steve displayed.
And that is the magic of the nature doc: bringing to life the spirit of the penguin—something we could all learn and benefit from. I know that I did. Two foot tall Steve and his female counterpart Adeline, survived the Antarctic winter, sea leopards, carnivorous birds, killer whales, and successfully raised two babies. So, upon consideration, my problems don’t seem so big. This is the magic of movie-making and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them, that is for damn sure.
In the mood for movies 