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Parents' Guide to

Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Frigid beauty and plucky penguins in gentle docu.

Movie NR 2015 58 minutes
Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale Movie

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale Movie: Scene #1
  • Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale Movie: Scene #2
  • Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale Movie: Scene #3

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What's the Story?

The hero of SNOW CHICKS: A PENGUIN'S TALE is the last egg to hatch under the legs of the 3,000 emperor penguins in the colony. He emerges scrawny and undersized. Like the other beaked bits of fluff staying warm under their dad's curtains of protection, this one awaits the crucial return of the group's moms, fishing and fattening up in the sea 100 km away across the ice. The moms march in a race against time to return to hungry chicks with food they regurgitate into the little ones' beaks. There's plenty of drama as a fearful chick delays bonding with the rest of the brood. At one point, the mom loses him for another brief scare. Predators (killer whales, leopard seals, and an aggressive bird) add to the tension as do blizzards and an iffy food supply. Eventually the chicks mature, pluck off their fluff, and head for their own four years in the sea. Then mating begins all over again.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Penguins are, it cannot be denied, just too cute for words. The photography of Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale is stunning, as are the stark white landscapes and the blank faces of the beautiful but seemingly stoic birds. Closeups of chicks huddling under their parents' skirt-skins make it easy for the filmmakers and viewers to anthropomorphize and draw parallels to human child-rearing, whether or not the parallels actually exist. The movie, enjoyable as it is, gets a bit cute, but this well-woven edit of disparate scenes is declared a "dramatization" from the start, with narration beautifully spoken by Kate Winslet who warmly offers admiration, humor, and brio, as if she were reading us a fabulous bedtime story.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the way the mother and father penguins divide their duties to care for the chick 24/7. Is this unusual?

  • How do you think the species developed and survived under such harsh conditions?

  • Penguin survival against predators and weather depends on instinct. Do you think there are lessons in the way penguins live socially, communally, and cooperatively that humans could learn from?

Movie Details

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