Penguins Under Siege (Special Interest)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Main Program: B-

 

 

In the old days, when a film was a hit, there would be a TV version to attempt to cash in on it.  In later years, straight-to-video junk was the answer and great TV inspired its share of at least good feature films.  Now we are in the digital High Definition era and Penguins Under Siege is a surprisingly fine response to Warner Independent’s surprise 2005 nature film hit March Of The Penguins.

 

This time, The Blackfoot Penguins of South Africa are the subject and the program, which runs a healthy and always compelling 85 minutes, offers more of the same.  People love animals, though in a strange twist, nature films since the early 1980s have entered a period of celebrated ugliness where it is more about animals killing and eating other animals.  However, this is not that exploitive and sinister, so it is worth getting if the hit film was not enough.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 digital High Definition shot image is not bad, though there are detail limits.  However, the transfer and the shots have their moments and in this case, HD offers a different aesthetic from its feature film counterpart that ironically makes it a fun companion.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no surrounds, but is nice and clear considering the compression of the format.  There are no extra, but it is a fun, simple disc viewers will enjoy.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo