The documentary deserves its accolades. Concomitant hardships undergone by director Luc Jacquet and his small crew during 13 months in Antarctica enable the rest of us to glimpse the continent's stark beauty—and the miracle of the penguins' excruciating breeding cycle—from the comfort of our theaters and living rooms. We follow the penguins through one unbelievable year, in which male and female Emperors take turns sheltering, first, their eggs, and later their hatched chicks, while their mates waddle as far as 70 miles back to the ocean to feed (they then carry food back in their stomachs to regurgitate for the babies). It's an extraordinary process, depicted by an extraordinary movie.

Unsentimental types should be warned, though, that not every remnant of anthropomorphism was scrapped with the original soundtrack, in which actors voiced the penguins' presumed thoughts. Morgan Freeman's voiceover work is perfect, but the script unnecessarily contains descriptions of the birds' emotions in reaction to various circumstances.

Even when not waxing romantic about love and mating, penguin-style, the film implies that the animals' ways of producing, feeding and rearing their young are based on conscious decisions and feelings rather than hard wiring bred in the animals for millennia. Yes, the penguins do all these things to ensure the survival of their species—but they don't know that. And yes, the chicks are cute, as the young of species often are—so we don't need to be told that it's sad when one dies.

March also sometimes minces words, saying a penguin "disappears" on at least one occasion when what has actually occurred is death. It is fine to soften reality—visually minimize the casualties of predators and fierce winter storms—in a movie aimed at all ages. A lot of bodies could be too much for young children to handle. But the word "disappeared" is an odd and misleading choice, when "some don't survive" would suffice.

In two of the DVD's extras, science takes a more conspicuous, if not front, seat. First is "Of Penguins and Men," a re-telling of the story from the perspective of Jacquet and the other filmmakers. Here, we get an idea of the arduous process of making a movie in the harshest of environments. There's more (and different) footage of Antarctic scenery, and we see more graphically that many chicks died in a particular storm (don't let young kids watch any extra but the cartoon if you'd like to maintain the softened reality of the main attraction).

"National Geographic's Crittercam: Emperor Penguins" naturally exhibits a television aesthetic and feel (with brisk cuts, for example), but is also a good companion piece to the film. Among other lessons, the mini-doc details the way in which the touted "crittercam" actually helped scientists view Emperors' diving/feeding techniques, which had theretofore remained somewhat obscured by thick ice. We also learn about a huge glacier (B-15, the largest ever calved) that threatens the survival of other penguin colonies. The problem of increasing temperatures in Antarctica is brought up and explored, albeit lightly.

Presumably just for fun—and also because it features a tiny penguin and a quick trip to the South Pole—"8 Ball Bunny," a classic Looney Tune, is included as an extra. Besides the cultural time-capsule value of all those old Bugs Bunny cartoons, this one specifically contrasts the rest of the DVD's material with a light, old-school, 'toonish conception of Antarctica and its indigenous creatures. The kids may not recognize Humphrey Bogart and other references, but Bugs' antics always get a laugh.