The Penguin Lessons Movie Review (2025)
I love a film that starts in neutral territory and slowly builds such that you don’t know where all your investment and emotion came from. That was The Penguin Lessons for me. Plus, penguin!
Films based on real stories usually go one of two ways – it is a great story, but the film lacks passion or, it is told in such a way that the viewer slowly gets immersed. Let’s be real here, true stories can be fantastic, but they don’t involve asteroids hurtling towards the earth. The storytelling has to be laid out in a captivating way to make the magic work.
The Penguin Lessons is a film based on a memoir of the same name, written by Tom Michell. It tells the story of his arrival to teach English at an Argentinian boarding school for boys and the quirky sequence of events that takes place after rescuing a penguin from an oil spill. All set during major government instability in 1976 and a possible political coup, the unrest directly impacts the boys, employees of the school, and the entire surrounding area.
This is an understated movie that I increasingly enjoyed as time went on. Tom is a nonchalant and dispassionate man who goes to work at a school. He has no interest in bonding with anyone, feels like a pretty surface level guy, and isn’t crazy about having to teach.
Once he meets the aforementioned penguin (named Juan Salvador), tiny cracks start to form in his exterior and bits of his vulnerable self begin to come through. I had a very similar experience while watching.
The movie is very funny in a dry and sarcastic way. You almost don’t know that it’s coming until you find yourself laughing out loud, which becomes part of the ultimate appeal. You care about the characters and you understand their motives, whether you would make the same choices or not.
It is very difficult to convey what this movie is and I don’t think the trailer does it justice. How could it? Most of the movie is a very subtle build from beginning to end and that is impossible to sample in a one or two minute preview. The movie is about Tom’s relationship with Juan Salvador, but it is also about so much more – there is a current that runs underneath it.
I really enjoyed the journey of The Penguin Lessons, and it is an extra bump to know that it is based on a real story. It is charming and will warm your heart in ways that you may not see coming, but you’ll welcome them with open arms. Definitely see it.
Runtime: 110 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Languages Spoken In The Film: English and Spanish with English Subtitles
Should You Watch It? Yes, it’s great
Did I Cry? I did, twice
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
Available: Soon to be in theaters and may be available to rent eventually on streaming platforms
