One arduous 'March'

On the surface, "March of the Penguins" is a simple documentary about Antarctic Emperor penguins, in the style of just about everything shown on Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel. After viewing, however, this film comes across more as a touching story about love, survival, and the harsh road these simple creatures take to create a family.\n"March of the Penguins" was the indie hit of this summer, hitting big at the box office, receiving critical acclaim, and ultimately becoming the second highest grossing theatrical documentary of all time, second only to "Fahrenheit 9/11" according www.imdb.com.\nThe film documents the arduous passage endured by a large group of penguins out to mate, lay their eggs and ultimately survive. The film opens during the warm summer season where we see the penguins hunt for food, swim, and slide around on the ice, much like something from a Chilly Willy cartoon. This charming behavior changes, however, when the penguins set out on their remarkable journey to mate that lasts most of the year, including the bitter Antarctic winter. \nIn a single file, the penguins walk roughly 70 miles to a common destination where they find a mate and spend the winter together. Eventually we see them mate, lay their eggs, make a number of other long trips back to the waters edge to feed and then manage to survive one of the bleakest and most unforgiving winters imaginable, with temperatures reaching negative 50 degrees F.\n "March of the Penguins" was filmed by French newcomer Luc Jacquet and his team of brave cameramen who spent almost an entire year gathering the amazing footage of these penguins. The detailed and intimate cinematography, combined with the simplistic beauty of Antarctica, makes this film a visual masterpiece, and Morgan Freeman's soothing narration provides us with an inside look at the life of these creatures. \nThe DVD release of this film features a fascinating, and equally visually pleasing, documentary on how the film was made, showing the filmmaker's own difficult march. There is also a National Geographic feature on Emperor Penguins with some more insight on their lifestyles, and a fairly silly and pointless classic Bugs Bunny cartoon featuring a penguin, which serves no real purpose except being kid friendly.\n"March of the Penguins" was one of the best films released this year and should not be missed. Similar to successful nature documentaries like 2001's "Winged Migration," "Penguins" takes a fairly misunderstood creature and shows their beauty and way of life, while also telling one incredible story.