“The Penguin Lessons” (2024)
I love penguin movies, and “The Penguin Lessons” has joined that list.
Sure the story is a little saccharine, and as a vegan, I always question how humane the treatment of the real-life animals was no matter how glowing the American Humane Association statement is about the movie.
But both of those things aside, “The Penguin Lessons” is a cute and heartwarming story about a curmudgeonly English professor (Steve Coogan in a bit of perfect casting) who finds himself adopting a penguin after a strange series of events.
The movie is a double fish-out-of-water story with Coogan’s Tom teaching in Argentina and his penguin friend, Juan Salvador, finding a home with him at the boarding school.
The film, based on a true story, takes place during the 1970s, when Argentina was in political turmoil. That turmoil overflowed into the school, where students with parents from opposing ideologies often clashed. As the U.S. and the world at large are going through turmoil at present, this story felt especially timely, too.
Some of the conflict resolution did feel a little too saccharine and neatly tied up in “The Penguin Lessons.”
But this story of Tom and Juan really pulled at my heartstrings, making it a solid entry in my pantheon of penguin pictures.