Review for The Penguin King

I love David Attenborough and my little girl loves Penguins and so this should have been the perfect thing to sit down in front of. Was it? Yes and No.

The Penguin King is a feature documentary following one penguin on his return to South Georgia, one of the few areas in Antarctica that can sustain greenery. Therefore everyone seems to come here, elephant seals, other species of seals, birds and of course penguins. This penguin finds a mate and then must endure the virtual starvation of sitting on the egg.

As this goes, he must also suffer the attacks of scavenging birds looking for eggs and other ones that are looking to pick off weak and defenseless birds. It is this part that makes the film a little hard to stomach. I understand that they must show all the hardships that the animals must go through, but with the bloodshed and carnage that goes with it, you think it would have boosted the rating to at least a PG so that you were aware of what you are going into. Happy Feet this isn't.

Those who enjoyed the Oscar winning March of the Penguins, may feel that this film is a little flat. Nothing much happens. The main penguin meets a mate, they have an egg and then he spends time protecting the chick. That's really all there is to it. Not much else happens.

However, the saving grace of the film is the wonderful narration by David Attenborough. I could listen to him saying anything and not only will I enjoy it, but I will also believe every word. He could tell me the world was made of custard and I would believe that without question. Without the narration the film would have been a little dull and there are times where he doesn't speak, allowing the action to say it all, but sadly this only works some of the time as the action is a little lackluster.

The film looks amazing and I feel that it would have been better if a 3D version had been included so that you could experience what would be on the Blu-ray. At times some of the shots look like they were framed specifically for the 3D effects and without it, it all looks a little strange... like most 3D films that do this. However, like most of the nature documentaries that Attenborough has been part of, it still looks wondrous.

The Penguin King comes with a Making of documentary that is probably just as interesting as the main documentary, with Attenborough narrating again. Here we get to see how they managed to make the film and the problems that they had.

Overall, The Penguin King is a fine documentary, but I feel that it tries to hard and without the wonders that I'm sure the 3D photography would have gave, this just feels like another episode of Attenborough's The Frozen Planet. Not that this is a bad thing, just if you are not a huge fan of Attenborough or Penguins, you may feel there is nothing for you here.