Animated / Family
24 minutes / 2013
Rating: 8/10
This short film made my girls cry and that’s okay. It is a classic boy meets penguin tale, a tale of loneliness felt, and friendship found, and a beautiful tale throughout. This is what made my girls cry – the beauty of it – and that gave mom and dad an opportunity to explain to these two little misses that crying is not always linked to sadness, and that beauty can indeed be tear-inducing and then it is something, strangely enough, to be enjoyed.
This lesson wasn’t entirely lost on them and also not entirely understood but it was a good first exposure to this curious truth.
The story itself is simple. [SPOILERS] Lost penguin arrives on boy’s doorstep. Boy briefly tries to get others to help penguin, but then decides to do it himself. He builds boat and rows to the Antarctic, where he then drops off the penguin and heads back home, only to realize that the penguin wasn’t lost after all, but had shown up at his house because he was lonely. Boy returns to the Antarctic, penguin hops in boat, and the two head together for what looks like the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
The only caution would be that a storm scene may be a bit scary for the under-6 set. Our whole family loved it. I would recommend it for anyone 6 to 106. You can stream it – rent or buy – from Amazon (or ask your public library to pick up a DVD copy).
