Sometimes my reviews/analyses are really long, as the subject is really deep. This is not one of those times. Sometimes a movie is just about watching cute drawings.
This is the American dub of a Soviet-Japanese film, and to what I can tell the British version is far better and more faithful. Unlike The Seventh Brother where I think the changes to make it lighter helped the film by making it more relatable while keeping the darkness of the original this version just removes everything but cutesy designs.
I am not reviewing the American version to get a worse version. I am doing it since that is the version I saw when I was the target age, and my past history with reviews says to do that. Again it worked really well for The Seventh Brother, so this has no excuse.
It starts with a very generic song to open it. It was supposed to skip to the narration and some very pretty animation of the Northern lights, but only the British Dub kept that. Then the narrator talks about the dangers of The Antarctic in a voice that is way too happy. The most interesting thing about this movie, going back and forth between them to see how little things like slightly better word choices, a better narrator, and better music really make another version better.
When the fathers are watching the eggs the seagulls attack with a really corny song being played. It really kills the mood when Gilbert (Scamper’s father) saves a few eggs while all the other males left. In spite of the mood being killed we do see why Gilbert is the leader when Scamper is born.
Next group of scenes introduces Scamper as playful and admiring his heroic father, but some older penguin convinces him he must use the gift of life to explore and think for himself. Then another bad song plays. While doing this he is attacked by seagulls, but thankfully they have really sucky aim. He befriends a puppy named Cowboy and the movie is already 1/4th the way over. Last review was a movie that is really full of details. This is very empty of details.
The elderly penguin tells them all the dangers. This is the most posted clip from the movie, and I find it pretty boring and do not have any memories of watching it as a kid. It might be that the clip is actually from the British version which includes the orca killing a leopard seal showing the predators are not united, but here that is absent.
The next few scenes are Scamper and Snowball playing. Snowball is Scamper’s friend and not-love interest, and she was saved by his dad during the sea gull attack. She is a coward who wants to be brave, so she follows Scamper.
He and Snowball are saved by the dog and the man, and the other penguins do not believe him due to men and dogs being evil, and we are at the halfway mark.
Snowball and Scamper leave to try to learn to fly, and they get lost. They are attacked by a leopard seal and this starts good until Scamper throws a snow piece that in mid air gets way bigger and clogs its mouth. It does not help this scene is full of reused animation from earlier in the movie and that one scene.
One annoying detail is there are many scenes of them quietly waving. Now voices were added, so they keep talking with their beaks closed. It is really distracting.
They are rescued/caught by zoo workers. In the original they are poachers. Now instead of dying the stakes are just going to a zoo. They meet Louis who has already been caught. For the viewers’ sake it helps to be anti-zoo, but I am not.
A random stick washes on the boat allowing them to escape. This is the main problem. Random things keep working out for them. It is like there is little weight to the consequences.
They get off the boat as a really corny song plays. It I kind of funny. Scamper reasons they are older now (by a few hours) so they can swim, and it works.
They get home but everybody is gone. It would be sad, except the music is still playing the happy song when they rode blue whales home. It fits so terrible.
Then everybody is right there for a happy reunion. Then the old Penguin tells them all the other children have been captured by the zoo workers. They they try to save them and a giant wave saves them. Narrator says nobody was hurt. That was an eventful last few minutes with no clear mood.
In the original work and British Dub Gilbert, Scamper’s dad, perished along with several other penguins. Now he is just absent when Scamper is declared the leader even though nobody was hurt, so he should be fine.
I miss Ghostbusters Afterlife so much. I do not remember caring for this at the target age, and the two times I have watched it since have not been kind to my memory. All the interesting and good stuff was removed. The only redeeming quality left is some cute animation. Two tree Stars.
Next time is Leroy and Stitch. I hope this is as good as I remember.
The Animation Historian 