The Pebble and the Penguin

G 5.5
1995 1 hr 14 min Adventure , Animation , Family

A bashful bachelor penguin named Hubie, who's partial to a pretty female named Marina. Ancient penguin ritual dictates that males present a pebble to their intended, then mate for life. Hubie finds a spiffy stone, but before he can bestow it on Marina, dastardly rival Drake tosses him into the churning sea, and Hubie gets swept away.

  • Cast:
    Martin Short , Annie Golden , Jim Belushi , Tim Curry , Stevie Vallance , Will Ryan , Neil Ross

Reviews

CommentsXp
1995/04/12

Best movie ever!

... more
Brendon Jones
1995/04/13

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

... more
Janae Milner
1995/04/14

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

... more
Scarlet
1995/04/15

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

... more
DrQuidam
1995/04/16

Congratulations, Bluth, Goldman, Manilow & Co. ! This movie is actually the ancestor of Youtube Poop !Who knew ? I have to say that I've been foolish to despise this little masterpiece all these years !You actually managed to achieve : 1°/ the most incoherent editing in all history of animated feature films (no story continuity, completely void of rhythm, same color charts all along the movie etc.) 2°/ to write a script based on no particular storyline (except of course these couple vague sub-plots that you mixed in a huge mishmash in order to somehow make the movie last 90 minutes) 3° / to assemble the biggest array of disposable bland excuses for characters, before Dingo Pictures thought about it (now that's something !) 4° / to compose the dumbest non-melodic songs in all movie history (even lamer than the ones in the worst Disney movies - if this isn't genius !) 5° / to draw the most hermaphrodite character designs ever (sorry, I still can't tell the girls from the guys in this picture)Not bad, I think ! Apart from point n°5, this movie has actually gathered all the basic ingredients you need to make a good Youtube Poop video.Except Youtube poops are intentionally funny. This movie isn't.If you haven't seen it - don't bother.

... more
TheUnknown837-1
1995/04/17

By the mid 1990s, the career of animator-director Don Bluth had seemed to drop to its all-time low. Before, Bluth had made a series of popular animated films, many which remain beloved today such as "The Land Before Time" (1988), "The Secret of NIMH" (1982), and "An American Tail" (1986). But beginning with "Thumbelina" in 1994, his films seemed to decrease more and more in quality and popularity and one of the many unfortunate entries is 1995's box office bomb "The Pebble and the Penguin", a film that didn't attract audience members beyond parents and children under the age of seven. Frankly, the latter are the only audience members I can comprehend taking enjoyment out of this rather bland animated feature.The story is absurd. The film stars a poorly-drawn, stammering, and chubby penguin named Hubie (voiced by Martin Short) who falls in love with a female penguin with a surprisingly healthy flower on her head (voice by Annie Golden). SORT OF like in real life, penguins present their bride-to-bes with a pebble as a substitute for a ring. But when Hubie is swept away by the current, he teams up with a lone rockhopper (James Belushi) with a dream of flying and they race against time to return to Antarctica before it's too late. The reasons why they could be too late is one of many underdeveloped elements of this weak story that would still be weak even if they were there.It becomes very clear very early on why this animated children's musical does not and will not work for anybody older than say six or seven years of age. It just does not have any of the qualities that are required for a good animated feature. Number one, the film looks bad on account of a very poor drawing style. The animation in this film is very cartoony (even as far as animated films go); it's dark, gloomy, there is no vibrancy in the colors, and on top of that, the design of the film and the elements in it are universally droll and laughable. Take for instance, the penguins who star in the film. With only a few background exceptions, every single penguin looks absolutely nothing at all like a bird. Hubie, for example, looks absurdly ridiculous with wide cheeks, a stubby beak, big eyes, and that preposterous hat that he wears wherever he goes. Combined with his hand-like "flippers" he looks like Chris Farley in a penguin suit. Result: he's an ugly, poorly-drawn cartoon character. But the most absurd-looking and absurdly-designed character is the evil penguin, Drake, who frankly looks nothing at all like a penguin. He's a muscle-man wearing a penguin mask. He's got a chest broader than that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and teeth larger than the teeth of the leopard seals and killer whales that serve as the film's predators. Basically, he's a two-dimensional, recycled villain. He lives in a cave shaped like a skull, he wears a cape, laughs a lot, and gets mad when people laugh with him. Result: who cares? And what's also bad, and maybe worse, is that this is an animated musical and there's not a single noteworthy or memorable song to found anywhere within its running time. The opening hymn was harmless—not memorable, but harmless. But after that, the songs became duller and duller and there was one in particular that had me grimacing all the way through. It's the moment that viewers press the fast-forward button for whenever it comes up.I felt "The Pebble and the Penguin" was lame all around save for the very few moments when Hubie and the rockhopper penguin Rocko are placed in peril at the jaws of leopard seals and killer whales, who were thankfully, given no dialogue and treated as animals instead of cartoon characters. But in a way, for this reason, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this movie to children. This is the reason. The film displays killer whales are the natural predator of the penguins. My concern is that children familiar with "Free Willy" (1993) may be offended or downhearted by seeing their favorite denizen of the sea portrayed as a bloodthirsty carnivore. The leopard seal was a better antagonist and was more funny seeing as how his jaws opened wider than a rattlesnake's and how he appeared to smile while growling. But the point really is, these moments with the predators—and there are only a few—are the only interesting moments. And they're not enormously interesting, mind you.Bottom line, I cannot recommend this to anybody below the age of seven. My advice: if you have children around that page, rent it for them. They might enjoy it.

... more
TheLittleSongbird
1995/04/18

I don't know why the rating is so low. This is a beautiful movie, that only has a couple of flaws. It is not as good as An American tail and Land Before time, but way better than Rock A Doodle Doo and Troll in Central Park . I really don't understand the criticism that it is unimaginative, with Rocko flying. Hello? Elephants can't fly, and look what Disney did with Dumbo! The songs and musical score are lovely, especially Now and Forever and Sometimes I wonder. The only song I didn't like was Good Ship Misery, because it was badly sung. The animation generally was good too, the highlight being the killer whales scene. True there were a lot of colour changes and some animation errors(Good Ship Misery), especially in Drake's song. And unlike some people I thought Marina and Hubie's romance is very sweet. The worst character animation was that of Drake. Nobody would draw a penguin like that. The voice overs were what made the movie, and they WEREN'T racist. Shani Wallis is lovely as the narrator, accompanying the beautifully-animated Antarctica-landscape beginning, certainly an improvement on the narration in Rock a Doodle Doo. Martin Short portrays Hubie's nervousness with such conviction, and James Belushi steals the show with a hilarious characterisation of Rocko. Annie Golden made me cry with her beautiful singing voice, her rendition of Sometimes I Wonder is heart-rending and Marina is such a cute and beautiful penguin, and Tim Curry voiced Drake beautifully, even if he got a tad annoying. In fact, Don't Make Me Laugh is special to me because that is the best I have ever heard Tim Curry sing since Blue Money.And by the way, Curry is the most experienced singer on the soundtrack, so I was shocked by the comment that compared the singing to howling monkeys. Barry Manilow and Sheena Easten's duet at the end was sublime too. All in all a beautiful and imaginative movie, if a little on the short side. 8/10 Bethany Cox

... more
kodyboy555
1995/04/19

Forgive me. I am being stuck on the word "adversary" in the movie. Hubie was being kinda hilarious, though. He was desperate to fight. I should invite my adversaries, Maverick and Steve the Wolf to watch Hubie confront against his 2 adversaries. What were Hubie's 2 adversaries? The answer, my adversary, is the leopard seal and the killer whale. And by way, they're savage. Maybe my adversaries, Fox Pennington and Archie the Wolf would like to see it. The leopard seal appeared first after Drake threw Hubie into the sea. And the killer whale later appeared in the film. What is adversary? A person or group that opposes another, an enemy. I should glare my eyes on the film to see Hubie's adversaries. And I often considered before Hubie was going to face off his archenemy, the evil Drake. It was a tough thing for Hubie to fight. But by the way, I hope I like this adversary scene from The Pebble and the Penguin!

... more