PG | 1h 37m | Drama, Adventure, Mystery, Family | 2024
Originally titled “The Penguin & the Fisherman,” “My Penguin Friend” (“Penguin”) is the kind of movie Disney used to make: A family film that is designed for family consumption but carries with it universal appeal. It’s not cloying, too cute, or overly sentimental, yet is loaded with authentic sentiment.
Had “Penguin” been a fictional tale cut from whole cloth, no one would believe it, and it’s likely the movie would have never been made. Because it opens with the often misleading “based on a true story,” it would be safe to assume some, or a lot of it, is made up. But that’s not the case. A quick dive down an internet rabbit hole will indicate that most of it, at least the main plot, is 100 percent authentic.
Save a Life, Perhaps Your Own
Joao’s humdrum day-to-day life gets an unexpected jolt. He discovers a badly injured penguin on the beach near his home coated in crude oil. Without thinking, he takes the penguin (later dubbed “DinDim” by a local child) home, cleans him, feeds him, and plans on keeping him around for a few weeks in order to recover. This doesn’t initially go over well with Maria, but she soon notices a spring in her husband’s step and an uptick in his mood. He’s found new purpose.The weeks turn into months. Thanks in part to DinDim’s being dangerously cute, he becomes the darling of Joao’s small village community. Joao and DinDim walk down the streets together, taking in adoring comments and pausing for smartphone photos and videos. Even Maria can’t resist DinDim’s charms.
Then one day, just as unexpected as his arrival, DinDim wades into the Atlantic and disappears. Understandably crestfallen, Joao slips back into his funk, but he accepts Maria’s reasoning that DinDim probably wanted to return home.
Home, in this case, is on the coast of the Patagonia region of Argentina. This is some 5,000 miles from Ilha Grande, near the work location of marine biologists Adriana (Alexia Moyano), Carlos (Nicolás Francella), and Stephanie (Rochi Hernández).
As they do with all other penguins populating the area, the biologists tag DinDim in the hopes of tracking his migration patterns. No sooner does he arrive, DinDim is back into the water for a return trip to Ilha Grande.
A coastal Brazilian native, director David Schurmann is working on his home turf, so to speak, and certainly knows the lay of the land. It goes without saying that the visuals afforded to him in both locations (not to mention the waters in between) are stunning, and look all the more spectacular when presented from the right perspective.
Schurmann deftly knows how to mix his close-ups, midrange stills, and panoramic long shots to maximum effect. Aiding Schurmann greatly and making his task so much easier is no less than 10 animal trainers and wranglers, and at least a half dozen “lead” penguins.
No Mean Feat
Scripting a good family adventure film is no mean feat. It is to the immense credit of writers Kristen Lazarian and Paulina Lagudi Ulrich that they resisted the temptation of dumbing down the narrative in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. They also toss a gripping mystery element into the third act that will keep audiences on the edges of their seats.The greatest of the many triumphs in “Penguin” belongs to Reno. Frequently cast as the heavy (“Léon: The Professional,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “La Femme Nikita,” “Ronin”), Reno’s Joao is a man beaten down by life and stuck in a rut.
The dark, sunken eyes atop his thin woebegone face silently scream resignation. Once DinDim enters his life, he finds new purpose. Those same features get tweaked upward, and his happiness and joy become absolutely infectious. Before it’s all over, we are fully emotionally invested in his fate.
“Human-animal bonding” movies have been around since the creation of the medium. While almost all of them are well-intended, the majority of them aren’t worth your time. “Penguin” is the rare exception. I hold it in the same high regard as other live-action flicks such as “Old Yeller,” “Harry & Tonto,” “My Dog Skip,” “Lassie” (the 2005 version), “Duma,” and the highly overlooked “The Art of Racing in the Rain.”
Parents always complain that there are no new good family films, and those gripes are largely warranted. Remove animated and superhero movies from the mix and the choices become even fewer. “Penguin” is original, heartwarming, inspirational, and deeply life-affirming in all the best ways. It will steal your heart if you give it a chance.
