LA MARCHE DE L'EMPEREUR (The March of the Penguins, 2005) ** Nature is full of wonderful stories (there are a couple on every street), and I'm willing to believe that Emperor Penguins are one of the best. The scenes are incredible: Antarctica appears more lunar than earthly and I had to keep reminding myself that the penguins weren't trained professionals working every ounce of talent into every shot. Which they were anyway, kind of. But, let's face it, even tv is full of great nature shows. Those billions of dollars of research grants that everyone likes to complain about ($5 million to study the mating habits of the Gambian iguana?!!) haven't been in vain. My main problem with this one-and I don't know how it was in the original French-is Morgan Freeman. We don't see him and he has a great voice, I'd consider him an excellent choice for narrator, but he's terrible and distracting. He sounds like a half-drunk drama student doing a Morgan Freeman imitation, exaggerating himself in places, quite nearly going to sleep in others only to awaken and over-emphasize some other sound that he's making. Then there's the music: intelligent music, well played, but adding nothing to the visual. So the sounds mess it up? The human sounds do. The sound that the penguins make when one of the mothers slips on the ice on the way home from hen night is worth any price of admission.
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