Summary

The movie tackles grief with expected penguin antics.
Emotional performances elevate the Homeward Bound-like story.
Unnecessary subplot impacts pacing and viewer engagement.

Based on a heartwarming true story, My Penguin Friend (2024) promises both laughs and a good cry for the whole family. However, like the movie’s animal star, the film doesn’t quite soar, but it does manage to hit all the notes associated with this kind of inspirational, family-friendly fare. After all, it’s hard not to be delighted by the real-life inspiration for David Schurmann’s feature. As the closing text reveals, a lost penguin, who really was named DinDim by those who met him, swam over 5,000 miles, from Patagonia to Brazil, for eight years.

My Penguin Friend (2024) Director David Schurmann Release Date August 16, 2024 Writers Kristen Lazarian , Paulina Lagudi Cast Jean Reno , Adriana Barraza , Nicolás Francella , Alexia Moyano , Rocío Hernández Runtime 97 Minutes

My Penguin Friend Doesn’t Shy Away From Tragedy
The movie tackles grief while including the expected penguin antics

No matter how lovely it is that DinDim braved stretches of treacherous water to visit a humble fisherman, João (a charming Jean Reno), the novelty of a penguin being as loyal as a puppy isn’t quite enough to help the movie stand out. Billed as a “triumphant tale of friendship,” My Penguin Friend opens by zooming in on a small fishing community on Ilha Grande. In a real bait-and-switch moment, it focuses on preteen Miguel (Juan José Garnica), a happy, curious boy who’s looking forward to celebrating his birthday by joining his father, João, aboard his boat.

When tragedy strikes on the water, it’s Miguel who doesn’t return home. Decades later, João and his wife, Maria (Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza), are still grappling with their grief. Miguel’s presence lingers in their seaside cottage, where the boy’s untouched childhood bedroom stands as a kind of snapshot in time that João can’t quite put down. The film cuts to the then-unnamed DinDim — a unique and curious penguin who winds up adrift in the ocean, drenched in oil from a spill. Without giving it a second thought, João rescues the flightless bird.

To Maria’s dismay, João insists upon nursing DinDim back to health, even as the penguin tracks oil all over their home. Concerned about drying the penguin off, João dips into Miguel’s room, grabs his late son’s winter hat, and cuts it into a sweater for DinDim. At first, Maria can’t believe that João disfigured the hat, but it gradually dawns on her that DinDim is bringing her husband a kind of joy he hasn’t felt in decades. In a later scene, DinDim walks into Miguel’s room — the door now open, both literally and metaphorically.

Schurmann tries to put viewers in DinDim’s point of view with a kind of fish-eye lens, but it’s more disorienting than immersive.

Although My Penguin Friend is about grief and finding ways to form new bonds even in the wake of loss, it still offers up penguin antics in spades. DinDim punctures bicycle tires, upsets a local dog, and strolls around town to collect items for the burrow João built for him. At times, Schurmann tries to put us in DinDim’s point of view with a kind of fish-eye lens, but it’s more disorienting than immersive.

My Penguin Friend’s Titular Star Isn’t Novel Enough To Help The Movie Stand Out
Reno & Barraza’s emotional performances elevate the Homeward Bound-like story

For all its charm, My Penguin Friend is a pretty paint-by-numbers animal-befriends-human movie. In recent years, this genre has been dominated by documentaries, from My Octopus Teacher to Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story, so it’s fun to see a scripted feature that acts as a kind of throwback to Disney’s live-action heyday. Still, if you’ve seen Air Bud, you know how João’s efforts to rewild DinDim will go. And if you’ve seen Homeward Bound, you’ll have some idea of DinDim’s determination to find his way back to João time and again.

While the penguin star’s acting rivals Messi the dog’s award-winning performance in Anatomy of a Fall, it’s the aching bond between João and Maria that forms the real emotional core of the story, as Reno and Barraza manage to convey all their unspoken pain with a glance or touch. Not to mention, My Penguin Friend is buoyed by the stunning coasts of Brazil and Argentina, as well as inventive water-bound sequences.

…it certainly impacts the pacing, inviting squirming and phone-checking.

My Penguin Friend might not hold the interest of younger viewers. There’s a whole subplot centering on a penguin research team that really eats into the runtime without being all that compelling. It almost feels like the thread was added to balloon the film’s runtime from short to feature-length. With stilted dialogue and stretches of awkward silence, the movie isn’t completely polished either. While that might not bother younger viewers the way it bothers me, it certainly impacts the pacing, inviting squirming and phone-checking.

Many times, the movie felt like a tonal jumble, even though both the heartbreak and the antics certainly serve the inspirational animal story genre. Still, I can’t help but feel that My Penguin Friend isn’t a movie that’s made with kids in mind; it’s the kind of movie that’s open to being for viewers of all ages. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that approach, but, ultimately, My Penguin Friend may struggle to find an audience as much as little DinDim struggles to find his footing.

My Penguin Friend is now playing in theaters nationwide.

3.0 Humble fisherman João (International star Jean Reno) has turned away from the world in the wake of tragedy. But when he discovers a penguin drifting alone in the ocean, drenched in oil from a spill, his first instinct is to help. To his wife’s (Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza) dismay, he not only rescues the sea creature, but takes the flightless bird under his wing. For the first time in years João starts to feel joy, even if he cannot fathom just how unbreakable a bond is being formed.ProsJean Reno and Adriana Barraza are excellent together, delivering emotional performancesThe story is sweet and heart-warming ConsThe film is paint-by-the-numbers storytellingThere’s an unnecessary subplot that eats through the film’s runtime