Who would have guessed that these odd-looking, waddling birds could be so noble as they brave the blizzards? Who would have imagined that penguins could be such a fascinating film subject?

Documentary filmmaker Luc Jacquet arrestingly tells the story of the painstaking and dangerous journey undertaken yearly by Emperor penguins to and from their ancestral breeding ground.

The visuals are stunning. The stark beauty and icy, barren topography of Antarctica are captured vividly. The terrain is so bleak and inhospitable that it astounds. Equally startling is the sight of dozens of the 3-foot-tall, black-and-white creatures plodding hundreds of miles — sometimes in single file — focused intently on the continuation of their species. The mating rituals, coupled with the cacophonous calls of the birds, are driven by their relentless biological urge to produce young.

The stirring sight of hundreds of penguins huddling together for warmth and a sense of community against the bitter blizzards (70 below zero with 150-mph winds) brings a lump to the throat. As do scenes in which some of the penguins do not survive the arduous winter.

The film is informative, sometimes moving, at other times very funny, and always compelling.

The cinematography by Laurent Chalet and Jérôme Maison is breathtaking, and substantial credit should go to Jordan Roberts (who wrote and directed last year's moving family drama Around the Bend) for his deftly crafted narrative script. Roberts strikes just the right blend of humor and poignancy. The voice-over is educational without being didactic, never evoking a biology or geography lesson. The writing is superb, and kudos should go to Morgan Freeman, whose intelligent delivery and mellifluous voice give life to the narration. Freeman's wonderfully personal style and Roberts' elegant phrasing are the perfect blend of material and messenger.

The process during which eggs are produced and kept warm for months by both mother and father penguin is beyond painstaking. At a key point, the mother must pass an unhatched egg to her mate with her feet to keep it warm while she goes off in search of food. "They've practiced this clumsy ballet hundreds of times," Freeman says. "And then, with great care, they will dance it."

The film was made by a French production team and the English narration written for American audiences. Those who enjoyed the lyrical beauty of Winged Migration, also a French production, will be similarly entranced by March of the Penguins.

This is a film for anyone who is fascinated by nature, animals or just a good, old-fashioned adventure story of staggering obstacles, pluck and endurance.

After watching the sometimes astonishing new documentary "March of the Penguins," I couldn't help but think that the emperor penguins got an unfair shake in the way things went down in Antarctica.
Apparently, the ice continent that is larger than Europe was once a tropical paradise teeming with life before it went south, literally, drifting into its present position. All the other species made their way out, except for these flightless birds who eat fish and other undersea life to survive.

They couldn't get away. So now, to keep the species going, they must trek 70 miles inland, walking and sliding on their bellies all the way, to find a solid patch of ice to mate and raise their chicks.

But the food is still in the sea, so the fathers and mothers must alternate, after months of starving themselves in sub-zero temperatures, trekking back to the sea to eat again while the other stays behind to protect their egg and subsequently their child.

Director Luc Jacquet and his team have done an incredible job gaining the trust of these penguins and recording their tortuous migration. Some of the shots -- such as a mother tenderly passing her unhatched egg to her mate to keep it warm before she goes for food, and the undersea shots of feeding taken from a small submersible -- are jaw-dropping.

Just as poetic are the sweeping vistas of ice, with long lines of penguins in the distance inching forward, looking like ants. "March of the Penguins" is in a way an epic adventure film with a cast of thousands -- and narrated, as if he were the voice of God, by Morgan Freeman (and let me be the first to lobby for legislation that Freeman narrate all documentaries from now on; I'm phoning my congressman today).

Most striking are the scenes of group activity. The mate-selection process, wherein thousands of penguins waddle around as if it were a singles mixer, features jealous squabbles and sweet talk. Later, when the fathers are guarding the eggs as the mothers are away feeding, they huddle in a group of about a thousand, shielding the eggs from snowstorms and winds of up to 125 mph, even taking turns being the ones on the front lines.

"March of the Penguins," in its original French form, apparently had the penguins talking about their hopes and dreams; foreplay sounds were even dubbed in, and the music was silly and comedic.

Luckily, sanity has been restored stateside. Warner Independent Pictures rescored the music, wrote new narration and hired Freeman. They have honored Jacquet's stunning achievement by turning a work that should never have been farcical in the first place into something majestic and moving along the lines of another French documentary, "Winged Migration."

"March of the Penguins," which is suitable for the entire family despite its adult sensibility, is devoid of some facts about the emperor penguins -- for example, what is their lifespan? But that's OK. By emphasizing its visuals, it instills a deep reverence for the unforgiving power of nature and the stubborn resilience of life.