The Pebble and the Penguin - Family Fun Edition
by Don Bluth
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DVD details
Actor: Annie Golden, Louise Vallance, Martin Short, S. Scott Bullock, Shani WallisDirector: Don Bluth
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Published), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 74 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-27
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of The Pebble and the Penguin - Family Fun Edition
DVD Review: Cute Family Entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
Based on the true-life mating rituals of the Adeli penguins in Antarctica, the G-rated story has the male penguins select a perfect pebble to present to his lady. If she accepts his gift, they mate for life, much like the parody of a diamond ring for a human lady. There are 2 discs, the 1st being the widescreen movie. The 2nd disc includes the "making of" featurette, the music featurette, and 5 interactive games. It appears the making of the movie began in 1995 and was completed in 2007. (It does take a long time to do a cartoon production like this.) I give this film a 4 for the visual production and a 5 for the music.
Hubie (Martin Short) is a shy penguin and not exactly a stud-muffin, but he is a really nice pengie and he is in love with beautiful and nice Marina (Annie Golden). Unfortunately for Hubie, Drake (Tim Curry) also wants Marina and won't take no for an answer. Drake is the kind of pengie that thinks he is the coolest guy in town. He is a legend in his own mind. He is also the kind of guy you want to slap, but it would probably just turn him on. Not my type, even if it was my week for pengies. Attribute these emotions to the fantastic job the talented Tim Curry does with his character.
Later in the movie, we meet Rocko (James Belushi), who becomes Hubie's best friend. The movie is not the pixar type 3 dimensional animation. It's more like a basic flat figure, but there is excellent color, crystal- clear cartoon images, nice cartoon scenery, a great story line, and an outstanding musical score, comparable to the quality of a Broadway musical. With original songs by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, I am not surprised at the high musical quality. Barry was also the Supervising Composer on this film. Usually we are somewhat oblivious to the musical score of a cartoon or movie, BUT, since I am a big Manilow fan, I remained consciously aware of the entire musical score. It was extremely well done, from delightful songs to fully orchestrated story enhancement. It is important to note that a musical background has a direct correlation to the emotions we feel, and how strongly we feel them, in a story. Don't miss the end-credit version of the lead song "Now and Forever," sung by Barry Manilow and Sheena Easton.
Back to the film, Hubie needs the perfect pebble because the special mating ceremony time is forthcoming and he wishes upon a star. All of a sudden, the most beautiful green glass stone falls from the sky. (Note to my crystal friends--could this be Moldavite?) Hubie is so excited and as he rushes back to ask her to be his forever, he encounters nasty old Drake. Drake knocks Hubie into the sea where he narrowly escapes being an appetizer for a hungry seal. (Seals eat pengies, in case you didn't know.) Exhausted, he wakes up on The Good Ship Misery, on his way to be sold to a zoo with other captive pengies and that's where he meets Rocko. As Hubie meditates on his special green stone, which he held on to all this time, he sees visions of Marina wanting him, but being anxiously pursued by Drake, (another hint this might be Moldavite). Hubie has just 10 days to find his way back to Marina. She must choose a mate before the big mating ceremony. Those are the rules in pengie land. Hubie has 3,000 miles to go in 10 days. Can he do it? Will Marina wait for him? This is a cute story of love, hope, friendship and determination. It's about going after your dreams, no matter what the obstacles.
Disc # 2
As stated above, disc 2 provides a featurette on the music (about 20 minutes). I watched this featurette after the movie and it confirmed what I said about its similarity to a Broadway musical. The perfectionism and hands-on commitment of Barry Manilow is evident in the end musical product. 70-100 musicians were used on the film and the orchestra from Dublin was superb.
The making of the movie featurette (about 10 minutes) discussed the painstaking process with the actors, sound effects, music. They also talked about the importance of sound and music and showed you a scene without music and with music, so you could get a feel for how important the right music is to a scene/movie. There was a tremendous team effort on this nice family film.
5 games follow:
Hubie's Journey--teaches you facts about sea critters.
Your Penguin Twin--a personality test-which character are you the most like? (I was like Marina. Whew!)
Trivial Escape--answer trivia questions about the movie.
Catch the Pebble--is actually a game, where you move an ice slab around and try to catch the falling pebble.
A-MAZE-ING Race--is actually a game where you move Hubie through a maze and past the seals.
Description of The Pebble and the Penguin - Family Fun Edition
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