Tuesday, August 09, 2005
So this past weekend, I went to see the delightful new film March Of The Penguins. Little did I know what cruel fate awaited the majestic emperor penguins at the hand of the film's narrator, Morgan Freeman.
Over the course of the movie you see a pattern develop that goes something like this: the penguins seem happy in their normal environment even though they're in a constant desperate struggle to reproduce, everything continues just fine until the booming voice of Mr. Freeman cuts in and says something like, "But winter's harshest storm was yet to come..." and then penguins start dying and everything turns bad. A few lingering dead baby penguin shots later, the happy music starts up and everything fine again until you hear Morgan Freeman speak. This happens like 12 times.
Eventually you start to fear Mr. Freeman's voice. What was once a comforting, gentle, grandfatherly tone bends towards something more sinister as you realize the man is causing the deaths of tens, maybe hundreds, of penguins. What's worse, he seems to enjoy it (or at least, feels little or no remorse). You can pass it off as nature, but I know it's Freeman's sick pleasure - by the end of the film, I half expected to see him awaiting all the penguins with a speargun at the water's edge. One thing's for sure, if I'm ever walking along and I hear Morgan Freeman start speaking about adverse conditions, I'm taking cover.
That all being said, the movie was really good and I'd recommend seeing it while it's on the big screen. I just don't think they'd've sold as many tickets with the title I suggested.
Loading...
