March of the Penguins (2005)
National Geographic Films

Description

In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family. This courtship will begin with a long journey - a journey that will take them hundreds of miles across the continent by foot, in freezing cold temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on earth, all to find true love.

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

Michael Moore might want to look into this before more animal docs steal his thunder.
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9.2 Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

Luc Jacquet's exquisitely shot eye-of-God study of a year in the lives of these distinctive birds is a nature film built with a feel for the epic and a love of operatic narrative.
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9.2 digitallyobsessed.com | Jon Danziger

As a documentary, it's a pretty remarkable technical achievement, one that will fascinate you and have you reaching for your winter coat.
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9.0 Los Angeles Times | Kevin Crust

Luc Jacquet's gripping documentary, "March of the Penguins," packed with more romance and nail-biting adventure than a summer of tent-pole movies, chronicles the emperors' arduous journey in intimate detail.
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9.0 Salon.com | Stephanie Zacharek

Think you've got it bad? This emotionally wrenching documentary about the difficult life of the emperor penguin will put things in perspective. It may even renew your faith in love.
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8.0 New York Times | Stephen Holden

It's impossible to watch the thousands of emperor penguins huddled together against the icy Antarctic blasts in Luc Jacquet's documentary film "March of the Penguins" without feeling a tug of anthropomorphic kinship.
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8.0 Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

"March of the Penguins" is at its best when it dispenses with cute commentary and simply relates the facts.
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8.0 documentaryfilms.net | David Loftus

In fact (and many critics have chided it for this), “March” succeeds as a documentary pretty much in spite of its own forced cuteness and anthropomorphism.
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7.5 TV Guide | Maitland McDonagh

Frankly, they don't need the hard sell: The penguins' matter-of-fact victory over some of earth's most punishing conditions is astonishing enough without the epic airs.
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7.0 Time

It's a gentle film about somewhat alien beings, who entertain us by creating instead of destroying.
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