My Penguin Friend

image for My Penguin Friend

Short takes

Not suitable under 7; parental guidance to 11 (distressing themes and scenes)

Age
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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for My Penguin Friend
  • a review of My Penguin Friend completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 3 December 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 7 Not suitable due to distressing themes and scenes.
Children aged 7–11 Parental guidance recommended due to distressing themes and scenes.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: My Penguin Friend
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 97 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

After the tragic death of his son in a fishing accident, Brazilian fisherman João (Jean Reno) is heartbroken and withdraws from the world. Many years later, João finds a lost, oil-covered penguin floating limply in the ocean. Much to his wife Maria’s (Adriana Barraza) dismay, he brings the lost penguin into their home and nurses him back to health, eventually naming him DinDim.

However, one day, DinDim disappears back into the depths of the ocean, sending João into despair. Unbeknownst to him, the bond forged between man and penguin was deeper than he had realised, and DinDim returned the next year. Through DinDim’s cheeky antics, their friendship blossoms and João learns to open himself back up to his community again. Could the unbreakable friendship between man and penguin heal João’s broken heart?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Grief; Child Loss; Relationships; Animals in Danger; Marine Conservation.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • João and Maria argue about keeping DinDim in the house.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • João and his son are tossed around in the ocean during a thunderstorm, with loud crashing waves, yelling and thunderclaps. Their boat then capsizes, throwing both father and son into the ocean.
  • A character is accidentally hit in the head by a capsized boat and killed, depicted by a silhouette of his body sinking deep into the ocean.
  • Dead fish are shown being gutted on screen on several occasions. Most notably, there is a close up of the inside of a gutted fish, coated in oil.
  • A dog snarls at DinDim, growling and barking until DinDim runs away.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • João is shown struggling to keep his head above water, desperately crying out for his son and crying.
  • DinDim gets caught in an oil spill and is shown floating in the ocean, weak and barely alive.
  • DinDim is shown slipping and falling from a cliff, before tumbling down and knocking himself out.
  • A long, bloody scrape is shown on DinDim’s stomach.
  • João is shown holding DinDim’s limp body and crying, visibly distressed and begging him to wake up.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • João and Maria open a gift that was supposed to be for their son before he died. Both are visibly distressed and crying as they do so.
  • When discussing their son’s death, Maria says to João that she had “never blamed him”. Both characters clasp hands and are shown crying.
  • A general feeling of sorrow is present throughout the film, as their son’s death weighs heavily on both João and Maria.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • A marine biologist photographs DinDim with a Polaroid camera.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • João hugs Maria from behind, kissing her cheek.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

Based on a true story, My Penguin Friend is a heart-warming family drama that manages to both tug on the heartstrings and be fairly educational, particularly for animal lovers. However, due to the death of a child and depictions of animals in danger, this film is not suitable for children under 7. Further, heavy depictions of grief and the impact of loss warrants parental guidance for children under 12.

The main messages from this movie are that hope can come in many forms, and that no matter how hard things feel, we can overcome heartbreak through love and community.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Compassion
  • The importance of community
  • Resilience.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • João isolates himself from his village after the death of his son. What are the different ways that grief can manifest? Is there anything João’s village could have done to support him?
  • A member of his community says that João is ‘broken’ because he won’t speak with anyone. Is this a fair way to talk about someone who is grieving?
  • Parents may also want to discuss with their children the impact of death and grief, as well as the ways we can manage these feelings.
  • DinDim gets caught in an oil slick, and fish are shown having digested oil due to ocean pollution. What does pollution mean for marine life? What are some ways we can have an impact on ocean pollutants?
  • Due to the presence of marine biologists and their study of Magellanic penguins in the film, parents may want to discuss animal conservation efforts and why it is important with their children.