PENGUINS: A LOVE STORY - External Movie Review

I also promised to post this review. Original Link.

You may remember some months ago on Now Showing, I'd recommended the Morgan Freeman-voiced documentary March of the Penguins. That film was released theatrically in the US two years ago and even the DVD has been out for over a year. But this week at our multiplexes across the country, two new versions of the same film have been released theatrically — an English version titled Penguins, A Love Story, and a Hindi version called Penguins, Ek Prem Kahani, both narrated by Amitabh Bachchan.

Now the film itself was originally shot by a team of French documentarians in Antartica, and it's really a tale of love and survival. It's the heart-warming story of the long and arduous journey that penguins undertake every winter for the survival of their young ones. Who would have thought penguins would make such a fascinating subject for a film? But they do, and their story is filled with drama and pathos and nobility and honour. As far as the narration is concerned, I can't seem to understand why they'd release a new English version considering the one voiced by Morgan Freeman was just perfect.

I suspect the idea behind roping in Amitabh Bachchan to voice both the Indian versions was to generate curiosity among those who wouldn't watch a documentary film normally. It that's the case, I guess it makes sense. Now I saw the English version Penguins, A Love Story and in all honesty I have to say I preferred the Morgan Freeman version over this one, and there's only one reason for that — I feel they haven't fully exploited Bachchan's voice.

Where's the modulation, where's the touch of humour and wit which is what makes the Morgan Freeman version so engaging? Anyway, having said that let me confess that while the narration does play an important role in the film's overall impact, the story itself is so dramatic and so moving that it wins your hear instantly. For every single one of you who hasn't watched March of the Penguins, don't miss this opportunity, go to the cinema and watch one of the two Indian versions, it's a film you will thoroughly enjoy. That's three out of five and a thumbs up for Penguins, A Love Story, please don't miss it.

Rating: * * * (3/5) [good]

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