A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the incredible National Geographic footage of penguins leaping off a fifty-foot wall of ice into the ocean. The footage has gotten the Ozzy Man treatment, which is predictably hilarious.
I love how he manages to give the penguins individual personalities, from yelling "To Infinity and Beyond!" to the somber monotone of "…as a walk through the valley of the shadow of penguins…" like cartoon characters.
When he says, "Can we please all agree that this is the first-ever footage of penguins flying?" it somehow reminded me of the most outstanding Master's thesis I've ever seen, Kiwi. Kiwi is an animated short film about a kiwi – the bird, not the fruit – which is far more powerful than a wordless three-minute cartoon has any right to be.
On my first viewing of the original National Geographic footage, I was genuinely worried that it would end in tragedy, as nature documentaries often do. (I'm looking at you, Netflix.) I was extremely relieved that the penguins' leap ended happily. Some recent commenters seem to feel that Kiwi has a happy ending, but that has never been my interpretation.
Previously: `More information about penguins than I care to have`