The Pebble and the Penguin

The Pebble and the Penguin
File:Pebbleandthepenguin.jpg
Directed by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman (uncredited)
Produced by	Russel Boland Don Bluth (uncredited) Gary Goldman (uncredited)
Starring	Martin Short James Belushi Annie Golden Tim Curry Will Ryan
Distributed by	MGM Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD 2007-present)
Release dates	April 12, 1995 February 16, 1996 (UK)
Running time	74 min.
Language	English

Template:Infobox movie certificates The Pebble and the Penguin is a musical animated film, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was originally released in movie theatres in the USA in 1995 by MGM and was released internationally by Warner Bros. in 1996. Barry Manilow provided the songs for the film. A few notable voice actors contributed to the film, including Martin Short, Tim Curry, and Jim Belushi.

Plot

Template:Spoiler The film follows Hubie, a shy, stuttering, young Adelie penguin desperate to impress a female (Marina) during the annual mating season, wherein the male Adelies present a stone to their favorite female as a gift. If she accepts, they are mated for life. He must present his special pebble to Marina before the pebble festival is over, or lose the love of his life, forever. Just as Hubie manages to pluck up the nerve, his callous rival and over-sized bully of the Adelie rookery, Drake, knocks him off the ice. Hubie then is swept away. Picked up and caged by the crew of animal research ship, Hubie meets the street-wise Rocco, whose only wishes are to live in sunny climates and learn to fly. Together they escape, and Hubie convinces Rocco to help him find Antarctica. When they arrive, Hubie must defeat his worst enemy to win over the beautiful Marina, and Rocco must face up to the realities of his dream of flying.

Reception

The Pebble and the Penguin was a box-office flop. It only grossed $3,939,728 and it received low critical reviews.[1]

Songs

- Now and Forever (Hubie, Marina, Company)

- Sometimes I Wonder (Hubie)

- The Good Ship Misery (Company)

- Don't Make Me Laugh (Drake)

- Sometimes I Wonder - Marina's Reprise (Marina)

- Looks Like I Got Me a Friend (Hubie and Rocco)

Production

Don Bluth and Gary Goldman pulled out on producing & directing this movie due to creative differences with the distributor of the film. With a "final cut" clause in the distribution contract, last minute changes were made to film. Bluth & Goldman could not convince the distributor to leave the film as they had planned it. As a result, much of the film's special effects could not be completed due to the requested changes and that the film's scheduled deadline remained unchanged. Assuming that the changes would hurt the film's integrity, they had their names removed from the film. However, the company name "Don Bluth Entertainment" remained above the title. This is the reason they are not credited for directing and producing the project. All of the original animation and about 70% of the color was completed before the two left the project. The changes were accommodated in-house at the company's Dublin studio. Due to the changes much of the ink & paint duties were shared with animation houses in Hungary. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman returned to the states to head up 20th Century Fox's entry into the animation business, producing and directing Fox's first animated feature "Anastasia" (1997).

The above explanation is also why there is no mention of the film is made under the "films" section of Don Bluth's website.

Home video

The film did surprisingly well on VHS and lasedisc in the same year as its theatrical release, and the film was originally released on DVD in 1999, and then came out of print in 2005. A new "Family Fun Edition" was released in the United States and Canada on March 27, 2007 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, though it was released a week early in some provinces of Canada on March 20, 2007. Many sites like Amazon.com and DVD Empire never gave any information of the special features of the Family Fun Edition, but there's two featurettes, 8 games, and a new-to-DVD widescreen version.

Penguin Species

Most of the film's characters are supposedly of an actual species. Hubie, and Marina are Adelie Penguins, Drake is an oversized bully Adelie Penguin, and Rocco is a Southern Rockhopper Penguin. Also, on "the good ship misery" several of the penguins are Chinstrap Penguins. The pebble-giving ritual used in the film is a factual process in Adelie Penguin courtship.

The film includes the penguin's natural predators such as the Leopard Seal and Orca whale. However, the film does make one inaccuracy in penguin predators. During the song "don't make me laugh" the lyrics include "say no poor dove, and you're a sharks dinner" while Sharks may be a threat to penguins in other parts of the Southern Hemisphere, marine life of the shark persuasion are scarce and generally not threat to penguins in Antarctica.

Adelie Penguins are no larger than Rockhopper Penguins. In reality the Adelie Penguin, while not the smallest species of penguins, aren’t as large as the film depicts. A more accurately scaled Adelie can be seen in the characters Ramón and the amigos in the film Happy Feet.

External links

• The Pebble and The Penguin at IMDb
• The Pebble and the Penguin at MRQE