If you can stomach the cuteness of it all, March of the Penguins is worth sitting through to witness the beautifully filmed romance of the Emperor Penguin. Every year the penguins begin their 70 mile (!) journey across Antartica moving instinctively to their mating ground where they will find their perfect mate that will last the entire year. This relationship is an important one as it needs to last through a very scarily brutal winter and into the spring. The mother, sacrificing nearly 30% of her weight will produce an egg. The father then takes over the nurturing role to protect the egg through the winter while mum heads off on the 70 mile journey back home to feed. Sometimes the transfer of the egg from mum to dad doesn’t go too well and parents are left to forlornly look at their egg laying frozen on the ground. Spring comes at last, the egg hatches, the baby penguins are born, mum returns and then it is the dad’s turn (who by then has lost nearly 40% of their weight) to trek the 70 miles for food. Many dads don’t make it and narrator Morgan Freeman offers this as an explanation for why female penguins outnumber the males.

It is an adorable movie and the visuals that French director Luc Jacquet is able to deliver are absolutely stunning. You will need the hardest of hearts to resist this love story.