The Pebble & The Penguin – Family Fun Edition
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: C+
This film
was made before penguins were cool…if that makes sense?! The
Pebble and the Penguin is fresh to DVD and is bright and special as
ever. Now, whereas this reviewer is sick
of such films as March of the Penguins,
Farce of the Penguin, Happy Feet, and those damn penguins
from Madagascar; he does enjoy this
mid 1990s classic. From the same
creators as The Land Before Time
(when the series was good) and An
American Tale, comes the tale of a bashful penguin searching for his
perfect mate. Since penguins only seem
to eat and breed the tale is not to far off from the truth about this species
of penguin.
The voice
actors include Martin Short as the bashful penguin Hubie, Annie Golden as
Hubie’s love interest Marina, Jim Belushi as a penguin with a dream named
Rocko, and Tim Curry as (of course) the evil penguin Drake trying to steal
Hubie’s girl. As is true with real Adeli
Penguins, Hubie must present his love interest with the most perfect stone at
the mating ceremony, but the evil Drake disposes of Hubie before the ceremony
begins. It is a race against time as
Hubie tries to get back to his love or the mating ceremony, so they can mate
for life. So let me get this
straight. You give a female a nice shiny
rock that you had to work very, very hard to get, with the prospect of mating
with her forever? Are we all Adeli
Penguins?!
The film
includes many great songs that don’t quite live up to that of Disney form the
same period, but are cute, well written, and catchy. Songs include:
- Now and Forever
- Sometimes I Wonder
- The Good Ship Misery
- Don't Make Me Laugh
- Sometimes I Wonder - Marina's
Reprise
- Looks Like I Got Me a Friend
The
technical features are nice on this second print of the DVD (originally
released in 1999 and discontinued in 2005).
The picture is presented in a nicely done 1.85 X 1 Anamorphic
Widescreen. The pictures colors are
improved over the previous release but some fuzziness issues are still
apparent. The sound is presented in a
somewhat cleaned up Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround that is adequate and clear, but
does have some instances of softness throughout. The extras are well done in this Family Fun
Edition including such features as No
Stone Unturned: Making of Featurette, ‘Now
and Forever’ music video, and finally 5 fun, interactive games that kids
will really enjoy.
This
animated feature, whereas no the greatest, highlights a god point in 1990s
animation as opposed to some of the dribble that is pumped out today. The
Pebble and the Penguin is fun and fantastic; though the penguins are not
drawn to scale.
- Michael P Dougherty II
