Best movie of this year hands down!

Too much of everything

Admirable film.

A Major Disappointment

I had heard a lot of bad things about Don Bluth's movies from the 90's and sure Thumbelina, Rock-a-Doodle and Troll in Central Park are bad, but I found Pebble and the Penguin okay. Not at all near his masterpieces from the 80's which I simply love, but okay. Tim Curry is the highlight of the movie, because it's Tim Curry, c'mon. He is the ultimate voice of a bad-guy and an amazing singer too! His song, "Don't Make Me Laugh", was bad-ass even though it sort of came out of nowhere. I like the other characters as well. Martin Short did a good job as the introverted and shy Hubie and Annie Golden voiced Marina very well and sincerely and gave us a beautiful song. My least favourite was actually Rocko, he was meant to be this grumpy penguin, but I found that he was a constant asshole being passive-aggressive towards Hubie. But he is not totally one-dimensional, because he changes as the movie progresses and teaches Hubie some lessons too. The animation had a lot to it. It changed a lot throughout the movie, but mostly it fit the scenes. The music was pretty good too and I don't get why many people say that there are too many songs. They were catchy and well sung. A certain improvement after Thumbelina and Troll.Tim Curry's character's design was a little stupid, because a penguin on steroids is a little far-fetched to be honest. That was what he looked like, but he was entertaining and that is enough. In general, an underrated film that will amuse the kids and maybe adults' eyes will get caught by certain aspects of it.

Don Bluth continues with his weird obsession with animals, bizarrely dark undertones and musical numbers that in no way enhance the story. Plus with stories that make no sense whatsoever, but which take themselves way too seriously.So in this case we have penguins approaching the mating season. And it just so happens that apparently the boy penguins have a custom of gifting their intended with beautiful pebbles. Unfortunately Hubie, the scruffiest penguin who ever penguined, is forced to fight for his girl with a steroid-abusing macho penguin named Gaston- I mean Drake. Played by Tim Curry, because who else. But then a meteor strikes the Earth, almost killing Hubie.If you haven't caught on already, it's weird. It's so weird that it almost makes Bluth's other films seem normal by comparison. Almost. Not helping the matters is the involuntary road trip Hubie ends up taking, taking him all across the southern seas. Along the way we get beaches, songs, ships, songs, water, songs, a lunatic penguin named Rocko, songs... and oh yeah, more songs! I mean, by heavens, how many songs can a film have? Well, in this particular goes, way too many. It seems like every single scene ends with a brief song number. Are they any good? Well, there's a catchy tune here and there, but not really, no. They're forgettable more than anything. They're not offensively bad like in some other Bluth productions, but neither are they any good.So... is it worth watching? Well, it is pretty to look at and there is something about Bluth's style of story telling that is at least fascinating if not exactly good in the strictest meaning of the word. And quite honestly while this has probably the blandest main character out of all of his films, it at least has a semi-coherent plot, even if it is weird beyond belief. If you've liked his other films, this might interest you.

Looking back at Bluth's previous entries from the 90s, I was beginning to think about what I think about this one. Well, just say that when I was a little kid, I seemed to enjoy it, but as a young adult, I'm gonna call this movie decent. So, some of you are wondering why a 80%? Here's the reason why.Here are some letdowns.Letdown #1: The story was just... weird for a movie about penguins despite it's credit for a romance between two main characters. There were some things that were unexplained like "Why do penguins have clothing and hands to begin with?" and "Where did the three non-penguin birds came from?".and Letdown #2: The songs made by Barry Manilow (despite it's decent music score from Mark Watters) weren't that bad. "Now and Forever" (pop song included), "Sometimes I Wonder" and reprise, which was hear-rendering, and "Don't Make Me Laugh" were enjoyable, but "Good Ship Misery" was badly sung, although "Looks Like I Got Me A Friend" has a decent melody.That's it for the letdowns. Now for the highlights. The animation is very good, the character designs aren't that bad, and the voice acting is entertaining with the likes of Martin Short, Annie Golden, James Belushi, and Tim Curry. The characters are likable too. Hubie is great and his romance with the beautiful Marina was so sweet and cute altogether. Rocko never fails to amuse me with his comedic moments and his comic-relief voice and the villain named Drake is great and I think that he totally frightened me the first time I saw him as a kid.So, is this movie weird? Well, kind of, but once you compare it to A Troll In Central Park, it's not a bad movie. It's just a decent and very cute penguin movie and it's worth watching for kids who like decent entertainment.8/10

This Don Bluth film concerns a penguin named Hubie who is in love with Marina and at first the movie starts off with a bright musical song Now and forever that follows their giving of pebbles to their loves for being mates with one another. But an evil penguin named drake is jealous over Hubie for taking the most beautiful girl penguin in the colony of penguins. So he manages to get rid of hubie by throwing him in the sea with a blood thirsty Leopard Seal. Hubie jumps out of the water onto an iceberg and is swept far away from Antarctica and is captured by humans on a boat to take them to zoos. But then he meets up with a tough penguin named Rocko who he escapes with when he realizes that there only ten days left to get back home before the full moon mating ceremony. He and rocko on the way to Antarctica don't exactly get along at first but before the end he convinces him to like him as a friend. Rocko accepts Hubie for who he is and he teaches hubie how to fight to defeat Drake before it's too late. Then Hubie fights drake and he falls into the pit of his lair and he manages to get back up and the gets smashed by the rocks that crumble on him and Hubie and Marina nearly fall to their death when Rocko saves them and he sees that he can fly like his dreams that said to him.To me that sort of reminds me of Dumbo in some ways. Then at the end Hubie and Marina get married and have a few kids and live happily ever after.This has got to be one of my favorite Don Bluth films even thought it didn't do well at the box office it still remains to me and a lot of people a Don Bluth Classic.