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Penguin Highway Movie Review

Penguin Highway is a 2018 science fiction anime film directed by Hiroyasu Ishida. It is an overly strange, but somewhat effective and moving flick.

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“Why is it that looking at her face fills me with joy?“

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When penguins suddenly appear in his town, a budding genius, along with his friends, is determined to solve the mystery behind their sightings. Soon, their discoveries lead to more puzzling wonders. This is such an odd movie. I wouldn’t say odd per say, but perhaps weird as it is positively strange for the most part, but the lack of explanations for its main storyline left me puzzled and frustrated.

There needed to have been more explanations in regards to the whole penguin storyline. The twist with the Lady character was interesting and that representation of an ocean as this miniature version of it was intriguing as well, but again the story was left overly convoluted and ambiguous, though its clear ecological themes are to be appreciated.

What the movie gets right and extremely right in fact is the protagonist’s knack for exploration and quest for knowledge. As somebody who is also very inquisitive by nature, I found this type of protagonist both very relatable and wonderful in his childlike sense of wonder and excitement. Whenever the two were on a quest to learn more about the titular phenomenon, the movie was on a roll. It’s a great adventure rooted in weird science.

Aoyama isn’t so relatable, however, in his obsession with the female physique, especially boobs. I found that elements typically Japanese, but still way too creepy and simply annoying as it was unnecessary in the context of the story.

But other than that nitpick, the characters worked. The Lady was a fascinating, mysterious figure and the two’s relationship was sweetly endearing. The eventual conclusion was powerful in its emotion and very elegant.

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Penguin Highway is beautifully animated. The traditional hand-drawn aesthetic did wonders to make the movie universally appealing, though the CGI was present, but still did not affect too much that effect of timelessness to its visuals. The score was also wonderful. The movie is a bit too long and slowly paced, but mostly engaging and fun. I wish that the script was better in the explaining department, but the originality of it was undisputed.