A true viral story is the basis of My Penguin Friend (now streaming on Hulu), a heartwarming family film that only the most ironsided of souls wouldnât find at least a little bit endearing. In 2011, retired bricklayer Joao Pereira de Souza was wandering along the beach near his home in Ilha Grande, near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, when he found a Magellanic penguin covered with oil from a spill. He nurtured the penguin, which he named Dindim, back to health and sent it on its way, only for the penguin to leave and return multiple times over the next several years, in what one might call an act of loyalty toward the man who saved its life. The story of this unusual friendship between man and smelly flightless waterfowl made the rounds on the internet in 2016, and now Jean Reno plays Joao and a reported 10 rescue penguins play Dindim in a gentle and admirably simple movie the likes of which we donât see very often anymore.
MY PENGUIN FRIEND: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Joao (Pedro Urizzi) caves in. How could he not? Itâs his son Miguelâs (Juan Jose Garnica) birthday, and the kid wants to skip school and go fishing with his father. But tragedy strikes on the stormy ocean waters off the Rio coast â and somehow, as people do, Joao persevered after the loss of his boy. Did he move on? Probably not. Itâs impossible. But the world keeps turning, and Joao (Reno) still fishes those waters several decades later, still lives with his wife Maria (Adriana Barraza) in their humble beachside home, and you sense the undying melancholy lingering in that space.
Elsewhere, in Patagonia, thousands of miles from Ilha Grande, penguins do what penguins do: frolic, swim, catch fish, make funny honking noises, etc. One particular penguin ventures from its little half-barrel shaped cave-nest into the ocean for what we presume is an instinctual migration. He swims and swims and swims, through an oil spill, and the next morning, Joao sees the bird floundering in the water. He scoops up the animal, which remains surprisingly calm, and takes it home. He cleans it up and converts an old stocking cap into a penguin sweater to keep the bird warm while its feathers grow back. The penguin stays locked in the bathroom for a while. Maria isnât fond of any of this, because she ends up scrubbing the guano off the floor, and also likely because of the smell. Ever been to the penguin house at the zoo? If you have, then you know what I mean.
But what are we if we donât accept people for their faults? And the penguin sure seems like people. It wanders into town and a local girl names him Dindim, and now that he has a name, weâll shift pronouns, because it might be rude otherwise. Joao builds Dindim a little nestlike structure, and he stays in there, smelling up his own place. Perhaps thatâs why Maria is more accepting and affectionate of their new, well, he has to be a friend and not a pet, because Joao is sensitive to such things, and seems to be aware that Dindim is a wild animal that shouldnât be confined.
Dindim ventures into the ocean one day and months go by and Dindim returns to brighten up Joaoâs life, and thatâs the cycle of things for a few years. The normally reclusive Joao takes Dindim into town one day and the kids and folks all gather to ooh and aah at this funny, cute little bird, taking pictures and videos on their phone. After one of Dindimâs migrations, he comes back with a little red arm band, because in Patagonia, a trio of penguin researchers thought his behavior was unusual and wanted to track him. Remember those videos? Well, one went viral, and the researchers saw it. Could that really be the same penguin they tagged, turning up thousands of miles away to eat sardines on Joaoâs lap? Now that would be something, wouldnât it?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Something produced on Disney that I probably would have seen on TV in 1981, which isnât necessarily a bad thing, mind you. Otherwise, itâs in the same vein as kid-friendly animal-rehab stories a la Dolphin Tale, and no penguin movie from the past 20 years can exist without the nagging feeling that Morgan Freemanâs March of the Penguins narration should be added on top somewhere.
Performance Worth Watching: That old pro Reno is very good at playing a weary old man who at last gets some relief from the melancholy that has shrouded him for many years.
Memorable Dialogue: âHe comes and goes as he pleases.â â Joaoâs mantra, asserting that Dindim is his own penguin, and not a pet
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: For My Penguin Friend, director David Schurmann and screenwriters Kristen Lazarian and Paulina Lagudi Ulrich have Hollywoodized the real story of Joao and Dindim, likely to balloon it to feature length. But donât hold that against them, since theyâve crafted a simple but effective metaphor about letting go, with the implicit conservationist message that wild animals are wild animals, and must be treated as such. Thatâs what makes the heart of the real story so sweet â whatever compelled this penguin to return to its savior over and over again is an exceptional thing. Surely thereâs a scientific explanation for it, an odd variation on migratory patterns, perhaps. But if you interpret it as a form of love? Well, thatâd be a really nice way to put it, wouldnât it?
Landing on that interpretation requires sidestepping some cliches and the lightly manipulative sentimentality that Schurmann nourishes. But youâll survive. This is a movie aimed at younger audiences who might find warmth and delight in a gentle tearjerker about hope, loss and the power of community â and lengthy sequences of Dindimâs klutzy waddling is the sweetness that makes it palatable. Reportedly, 80 percent of the penguin sequences were shot with real animals, which tracks with the eye test, and fits nicely with Schurmannâs naturalist visual style, with lovely cinematography reminiscent of your favorite lushly shot nature documentaries. Despite some of its formulaic trappings, My Penguin Friend avoids mashing the big red INSPIRATIONAL button, simply letting us feel the warmth between Reno and the penguin. And thatâs enough.
Our Call: This sweet little movie wonât change your life, but as a story about people â and animals! â whose lives were changed for the better, it will warm your heart a little. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘My Penguin Friend’ on Hulu, a Gentle Heartwarmer About a Man’s Unusual Relationship With Smelly Flightless Waterfowl appeared first on Decider.