Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

March of the Penguins Blu-ray Movie Review

Emperor Penguins' yearly ritual of trudging over Antarctic ice, mating and caring for their young is immortalized on Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Greg Maltz January 26, 2008

Each year, during the onset of winter, Emperor Penguins hike in a long trail over the ice to their ancestral breeding ground in Antarctica. There, each penguin pairs with a mate to produce an egg. The female props it atop her feet, keeping it warm under her belly. Her body taxed to the brink of starvation from her gestation, she must gently transfer the egg to her mate and return to the ocean to feed during the darkest days of winter. This behavior sets up one of the most remarkable spectacles in all of nature: a tightly packed crowd of male Emperor Penguins, each carrying an egg on his feet, huddled together in the most remote, harshest environment on Earth.

Battered by blizzards, the penguins take turns on the outskirts of the herd, where they shield others from the cold and wind. In the dead of winter, the eggs hatch and the males attempt to keep the chicks alive until the females return with their bellies full of food. The half-digested nutrients are regurgitated to provide meals for the young. After a time, the adult penguins return to the water. Their offspring must fend for themselves until they are ready to take the plunge into the nutrient-rich ocean for the first time in their lives.

With snow sticking to its downy coat, a chick finds itself exposed to the elements for the first time.

This story is captured gorgeously in National Geographic's Oscar-winning documentary, March of the Penguins, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman. The plight of the Emperor Penguins is oddly human. The search for a mate, the deep caring for their helpless young, the mourning over broken eggs and chicks who succumb to the environment, the euphoria when the female partners return from feeding--each of these milestones in the yearly ritual seem emotionally accessible and familiar.

The heartwarming images of the penguins reuniting and caring for their chicks are as powerful as the heartbreaking images of a forlorn adult prodding a broken egg. Freeman's narration is not as engaging as David Attenborough's in Planet Earth and the camerwork fall short of the reference documentary as well. But March of the Penguins is a more focused production because it has a story--a beginning, middle and end. While some viewers find this type of nature show boring, others will thoroughly enjoy it.

March of the Penguins Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The VC-1 codec delivers a high quality, 1080p picture with scads of detail. From the crevices in ice floes to the sheen of penguins' coats, the images are well-resolved. Even the film grain itself has good definition. That inevitably leads to complaints among some viewers. Overall, the contrast is good and black level is spot-on. Since the camera crew and equipment is nowhere near the quality of Planet Earth, viewers expecting March of the Penguins to be of equal image clarity and depth may be disappointed. But compared to NTSC, the resolution is downright mesmerizing.

The icescape of Antarctica is an interesting backdrop. It provides plenty of contrast but not much variability in color. For that matter, the penguins are not particularly colorful either. Aside from the yellow sun and yellow coloration around the upper part of the adult penguins, the video is quite monochromatic, but what it lacks in color vibrancy, it makes up for in contrast, shapes and depth. The views of the terrain with the penguins slowly walking in single file in the distance show good presence and enough resolution and richness to give the illusion that you can step into the picture and join the hike. Even the underwater views deliver good views of the penguins, which transform from slow, clumsy creatures on land into graceful, lightning-fast swimmers.

March of the Penguins Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The soundtrack is what most people might call boring. Freeman's voice is fairly monotone, even compared to other documentaries he's narrated, including an energy-related documentary recently braodcast in high definition on my local PBS affiliate. The music also lacks punchy dynamics, but each instrument is well resolved and actually quite engaging. No one will want to show off the audio capabilities of their HT system using March of the Penuins, but it is an effective soundstage, engineered appropriately for the documenary.

March of the Penguins Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The most entertaining supplementary content is a featurette on National Geographic's crittercam, which is a small camera mounted on various animals. The focus of this featurette is of course the application of the crittercam to Emperor Penguins for a "bird's eye" view. The special shows how the camera is mounted to the penguins, using straps that look like a little vest. Highly entertaining footage of the penguins in action is also shown. Rounding out the bonus features are a rather silly classic looney tunes cartoon entitled 8 Ball Bunny in HD and the original National Geographic theatrical trailer of March of the Penguins.

March of the Penguins Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While some might consider March of the Penguins just another boring documentary from National Geographic, the remarkable plight of Emperor Penguins does make it special. The danger of predators and deadly cold weather, the frailty of the eggs and chicks, the penguins' devotion to their mates and their offspring and indeed their ritualistic trek to their breeding grounds--it all makes for highly entertaining and occasionally humorous viewing. The Freeman narration is interesting and informative. But let's face it: we wouldn't really care if the penguins--especially the chicks--weren't so darn cute. It is also a nice escape to visit the ice world of antarctica in 1080p. Highly recommended for documentary buffs, naturalists and animal lovers.