My Penguin Friend

2024

Adventure / Drama / Family

42
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 96% · 56 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 96% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 6907 6.9K

penguin based on true story oil spill animal rescue animal human friendship independent film

Plot summary

A lost penguin rescued from an oil spill transforms the life of a heartbroken fisherman. They become unlikely friends, so bonded that even the vast ocean cannot divide them.

Director

David Schurmann Photo
David Schurmann

Top cast

Jean Reno Photo
Jean Reno as João
Adriana Barraza Photo
Adriana Barraza as Maria
Wilson Rabelo Photo
Wilson Rabelo as Marcos
Alexia Moyano Photo
Alexia Moyano as Adriana
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEB
896.49 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   fr   cn   dk   de   es   fi   kr   nl   no   pt   sv   th   tr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 18
1.8 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us   fr   cn   dk   de   es   fi   kr   nl   no   pt   sv   th   tr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 39
1.63 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us   fr   cn   dk   de   es   fi   kr   nl   no   pt   sv   th   tr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 26
4.34 GB
3840*2160
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
N/A
Seeds 13

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by meinwonderland 6 / 10

A beautiful friendship that gives hope

Inspired by a true story, My Penguin Friend follows a fisherman named João (Jean Reno) making friends with a penguin he rescued from an oil spill. An unlikely bond that will know no boundaries and will catch attention worldwide.Directed by David Schurmann and written by Kristen Lazarian and Paulina Lagudi Ulrich, the movie explores the theme of friendship in an honest and beautiful way. A friendship that illustrates the lengths we can go for someone we love. Jean Reno and the penguin, most of the time a real one instead of CGI, possess a chemistry that transcends the screen, rendering an endearing and charming experience. Like the reporter told João, this is a unique friendship that gives hope. It is like they found in the other what they needed, the missing part in their lives, something that can be seen from the moment they met and the strong connection they manifested. After the reluctance of Maria (Adriana Barraza) to have a penguin in their house and João assuring her it will only be a matter of days till he is healthy and prepared again, the penguin found in João someone he could trust. From making him a special attire, building him the equivalent of a penguin's nest outside of his house, to making sure he is well fed by buying him fish, it is clear João considers the penguin as an important new part of his life. In his own words, when asked if he was his pet: "Not my pet. He's my friend." The same can be said about Dindim, named like that by the daughter of a local friend of João. Dindim's unwillingness in abandoning his new friend is seen from the moment when João takes him to the island so, now healthy again, he can be free to go anywhere he wants to. The penguin cooing as a way to tell him he wants to be with him is simply too cute, like those moments where he is seen cuddling in João's lap.The aspect epitomizing how special this relation is is Dindim swimming over five thousand miles between Valdés Peninsula, Argentina, and Ilha Grande, Brazil, to visit his friend. The yearly routine consists of his coming back in June and departing by December, a fact exemplifying the nature of their bond as one between friends, pairs, and not owner and pet. As João indicated in a TV interview, "He comes and goes as he pleases." Treating animals as equals in a world where they are still traded like assets, harmed, and utilized for questionable experiments that regard their whole existence not as something intrinsically worthy but at the service of their masters, us humans, is something radically important and beautiful in its expansiveness of respect and love towards other species besides one's own.The journey Dindim undertakes every year could be equated to the journey traveled by João, if only metaphorically. Owing to a traumatic event in the fisherman's life, an aspect the movie utilizes to add expressiveness to more dramatic layers, he will find in Dindim not only a new best friend but also an answer to appease the hunting voices of the past and find solace and happiness again.
Reviewed by shulerjs-31344 8 / 10

A really sweet story

Our local theater does "Mystery Movies" on Monday where all the tell you is the run time and rating before the movies starts, so we had no expectations. When it started, I saw that this was going to be a PG animal flick, so I started out bummed. I was pleasantly surprised. Based on the true story of a man who befriends a penguin, but the real story is more about how a man overcomes grief and re-engages with his life and community. How a village can actively support one another. There are quite a few laughs and silly moments as you would expect from a movie with a penguin as a main character, but pull that back, and it really is a redemption and growth story about a simple couple in a fishing village. There are a few darker themes, especially around human hubris and callousness, this will go over younger viewers' heads, all in all, a really heartwarming film that I recommend to take the whole family to see. My biggest criticism is that the dialog was a bit weak and they tried a bit too hard with some of the underwater shots. They tried something they hoped would look cool, but it was more disorienting than anything else.
Read more IMDb reviews

12 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment