We often hear about penguins and sometimes see them in zoos. But not until you see them in their natural habitat do you get a true sense of what their lives are. The Academy Award-winning documentary "La marche de l'empereur" ("March of the Penguins" in English) shows a number of emperor penguins walking - and sometimes sliding - back to their breeding ground for the winter. And remember, this is an Antarctic winter. The documentary tugs at the heart occasionally, since not every member of the group survives. After all, there's no room for error in Antarctica's winter.I understand that in some countries, the documentary gets narrated in first person, as though the penguins are conversing with each other. Since I've only seen the English-language version, I only heard third-person narration by - who else? - Morgan Freeman. Whatever the case, this is one impressive documentary. It deserved its Oscar win (although it did have strong competition in Alex Gibney's documentary about Enron). Good one.

Wonderful documentary.The telling of how emperor penguins in the Antarctic travel a vast distance to mate and how the parents then have to endure the harshest conditions on Earth to ensure their offspring are born, survive and thrive. A story of life, survival, and regeneration. Incredible footage. Some amazing camera placements and angles. There could not have been a manned camera in some of the spots, so passive cameras were used. Very ingenious placement at times.Then, of course, there is the narration. Nobody could have done it better than Morgan Freeman. Such gravitas and feeling.A great reminder of the wonder of nature, and the struggles that some species undergo to survive and grow.

Amazing and touching documentary about life in one of the harshest places on Earth. March of the Penguins tells the story on a colony of Emperor Penguins after 5 years living in the sea will march nearly 70 miles on frozen tundra to their breeding ground, far inland from the oceans where they thrive. It is there, that the cycle of life continues for them, as both female and male Penguins go through trials and tribulations with multiple arduous trips between the ocean and the breeding ground to give birth to the next generation. Director Luc Jacquet and his devoted crew from National Geographic Society endured a full year of extreme conditions in Antarctica to capture the life cycle of Emperor penguins on film, and their diligence is evident in every striking frame of this 80-minute documentary. It's beautiful shot, footage. March of the Penguins is a brilliant stirring and engaging nature film. Mad props to them, as they had to challenge of making the film when the weather was with windy 125 miles per hour temperatures between -50 and -60 °C. That's crazy cold! I had to put a coat on, just thinking about it. It has all the narrative excitement with the soothing voice of Oscar Winner, Morgan Freeman. If you are watching the French version of the film, the film has a first-person narrative as if the story is being told by the penguins themselves. The narration alternates between a female (Romane Bohringer) and a male (Charles Berling) narrator speaking the alternate roles of the female and male penguin, and as the chicks are born their narration is handled by child actor Jules Sitruk. I don't dislike this Anthropomorphism version, but I think hearing Morgan Freedom's voice make the film more mature. Having penguins have human voices make it seem like a nature film. I think the International dubbing as roles for the penguins is just don't have the ring for a documentary with a third-person narrative. Plus the international version have different titles that doesn't have the feel for the film such as the Philippine's version Penguin, Penguin, How Were You Made? Or India's Penguins: A Love Story. I will take 'March of the Penguins' title over these international titles that explain the harsh voyage the Penguins go through. Also I don't like the International's version of music choice of electronic too much. Its sounds too haunting rather than epic journey. Don't get me wrong, I like Émilie Simon, but songs like 'Frozen World' would sound better in a gritty fantasy movie. The music instrumental score by Alex Wurman is amazing. The only problem with his, is that the score track loops way too much in the film. I think the movie was very educating to people who wouldn't know anything about the species. Yes, it got a few things wrong like saying penguins are monogamous when in reality penguins are serial monogamy. The movie is great for both children and adults as it is Rated G, but still there are scenes of mating, violence, and sad moments of death due to Mother Nature's cold environment, and predators. So do warning. The movie was advertised as being so adorable and fun for the entire family, but that is simply not so. There were cute moments, and a couple of hoots, but for the most part it was just gloomy and depressing! Well, it didn't stop the movie from reaching the masses. The movie became so popular, that in 2007, a direct-to-DVD parody written and directed by Bob Saget called Farce of the Penguins was released. It is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and features other stars providing voice-overs for the penguins. I wouldn't go see that crap movie by Bob Saget. Overall: Penguins are beautiful, amazingly emotional creatures and this movie help you understand what they go through, when in order to reproduce, which is a lot of hardship and misery. Don't look at them as an anthropomorphic depiction of penguins, but as normal animals trying to survive. Give it a go, you won't regret it.

This was one of the most uninteresting, boring and worst movies (or documentaries) that i ever saw in the cinema. When i saw it in 3d on a big IMAX screen it bored the life out of me. I know that no one ever followed penguins around so closely and yes,i also think that penguins are cute, but this was one of my personal "Top Ten: The worst and the Boring"... every 2nd regular BBC documentary manages to be somewhat cool and enlightening about some aspect of animal life. This movie should be 15 Minutes long, so i would have survived it without having to write my first review in such a smashing fashion. Hate it! After 15 minutes the movie stopped to be interesting to me and was just plain torture.