March of the Penguins: Limited Edition Giftset

Directed by: Luc Jacquet

Narrated by: Morgan Freeman

---

Studio: Warner Bros. Year: 2005 Rating: G Film Length: 80 minutes Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Release Date: November 3, 2009

This Limited Collector's Edition of March of the Penguins repackages the DVD release from November 29th, 2005 in a deluxe collection that pairs it with a television documentary on African Penguins entitled On the Wings of Penguins.

The Film/The Video/The Audio/The Extras

The disc containing March of the Penguins is bit-identical to the original DVD release from four years ago. Herb Kane's detailed review of that title is available at this link. I generally agree with his assessment, but think the DVD deserved a marginally higher rating than he gave it which is reflected in my **** rating for this package. The balance of this review will focus on the packaging and the bonus On the Wings of Penguins disc unique to this Limited Edition Giftset.

The Extras

As a quick refresher, and as detailed in Herb's review linked above, the March of the Penguins DVD includes the following extras:

• Of Penguins And Men - 54 minute behind the scenes documentary on the making of March of the Penguins
• National Geographic’s Crittercam: Emperor Penguins - 24 minute featurette with footage from cameras strapped to various penguins in order to study their activities.
• 8 Ball Bunny - Chuck Jones "Merrie Melodies" Bugs Bunny cartoon
• Theatrical Trailer

The only new video-based supplement in this Limited Edition Giftset is On the Wings of Penguins. This newly produced 69 minute shot-on-video documentary directed by Stephanie Heredia focuses on African Penguins, a breed of warm weather Penguins native to Southwest Africa.

It is presented in 4:3 video letterboxed to 16:9 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound. There are no subtitle options and no alternate language tracks. Sticklers for proper aspect ratios will be horrified to learn that the feature alternates between properly formatted footage and native 4:3 full frame footage artificially conformed to the 16:9 ratio by squeezing/distortion. This seems doubly unnecessary considering that the documentary is being presented in 4:3 video anyway.

This documentary is not in the same league with March of the Penguins, and is more typical of what one would expect to see in made for television nature documentaries.  Most of the footage is of African Penguins in captivity being cared for and studied at various facilities in the United States. It is episodic in structure and somewhat haphazardly organized. For most of its running time, it feels like a collection of separate ten minute or so featurettes on various aspects of African Penguin activity around the world.  There are a couple of attempts at extended continuity such as when a Penguin named Pierre with health issues is introduced and revisited later in the documentary's running time.  The most interesting bits are the few episodes where cameras are actually taken on location to observe African Penguins in the  wild, including a segment about the gradual repopulation of the Penguins on Robben Island, the site of a notorious South African prison.  There is an extended episode about the evacuation of African Penguins from a facility in Louisiana in the wake of Katrina which was kind of interesting, but I couldn't help but wonder if the resources donated to airlift them might have been better spent on humans.

Packaging

Aside from the inclusion of the On the Wings of Penguins documentary, this Limited Collector's Edition further distinguishes itself from the earlier DVD release of March of the Penguins via unique packaging and physical extras.

On the Wings of Penguins appears on its own independent single layered disc with no contents beyond the documentary and no menu selections beyond "Play Movie" and "Chapter Select".  The two DVDs are packaged in a standard Amaray-sized "Ecobox" case with a hinged tray allowing it to accommodate two discs with no need for overlapping.

The DVD case is combined with the following contents in a large box made of thin cardboard with a clear plastic side panel showing off a baby penguin plush toy:

• An envelope filled with eight postcards with color images from the films.  Four of them feature images of Antarctic Penguins from March of the Penguins and the other four feature images of African Penguins from On the Wings of Penguins.
• A Pocket sized "Seafood Watch" National Sustainable Seafood Guide updated as of July 2009 with guidelines to help seafood lovers choose responsible seafood that is generated using sustainable/non-destructive practices.
• The aforementioned baby penguin plush toy.

Summary ****

While the DVD of the remarkable nature documentary March of the Penguins remains as it has been since it was first released in late 2005, super penguin lovers and those looking for holiday gifts for super penguin lovers may want to consider this set.  It includes a somewhat less remarkable documentary on African Penguins called On the Wings of Penguins and a couple of fun physical knick-knacks as well.  Those with a more modest affection for penguins who already own the previous release are best advised to stand pat.