Meet Pingu

Jason was sorting through our collection of DVDs the other day and remarked, "We have a lot of children's DVDs." I wasn't exactly paying attention to him when he said that, so he reiterated his remark for emphasis. "We have a lot of children's DVDs."

"I know," I said. "It comes with the territory."

The "territory" is being part of the fabulous Parent Bloggers Network, which comes with the fun job of getting to review DVDs (as well as other nifty things). With all this reviewing you might assume that we do nothing but watch movies all day, but that's not so much the case. Truthfully, we have an inordinate amount of junior DVDs considering Sydney isn't really allowed to watch that much tv.

This explains why we had never heard of Pingu. Have you? Pingu? Featuring amazing claymation action just like the kind we know and love from the classic Christmas movies? Pingu has his very own show on the PBS Sprout Network, but we just met him. And I have to say, he makes me laugh. Pingu is a lovable little penguin, and his new hour-long movie Pingu On Thin Ice features several short episodes of him getting into all sorts of mischief. Here's Pingu trying to hide his fishy food that he doesn't like (a picker eater! maybe he should come live at my house and he and Syd can bond over their mutual distaste for anything that isn't PB&J). Here's Pingu getting lost in a cave. Oh, and here's Pingu with the hiccups. That Pingu. What a kick.

But the real kicker is that Pingu (and friends) speak in Pinguinese (not to be mistaken for Portuguese, or as my mom initially suspected, French). There aren't any worries about your kids picking up undesirable phrases because no real words make their way into the dialogue. My first thought upon hearing Pinguinese, "Well, this isn't a show for verbal acquisition," and was a bit perplexed. After watching it though I realized what is does promote: understanding storylines and emotions just through observing body language and universal sounds. With some coaching, I got Sydney to figure out what was going on in the story.

"Why is he holding his nose?" I asked Syd.
"Because the fish is stinky!" she said.
"So why won't he eat the fish?"
"Because he doesn't like to eat stinky fish." Clever girl.

True, it's definitely silly stuff. Sydney and I giggled throughout the whole thing, and it's sort of a kids' version of Laurel and Hardy. There are a few occasions of potty humor (the telltale signs of bubbles in the tub, along with universal toot sounds) but mostly it's harmless fare. The one thing that bugged me was that at the end of every episode the theme song and credits play, prompting Sydney to ask EVERY TIME, "Is it over?" No, not yet. "Is it over now?" No. "Is it over?" For the love of all things Pingu, it's not over. Somebody wasn't thinking when they made the end of each episode seem like the end of the movie.

Kids will enjoy the slapstick humor of the program without parental guidance, but the teacher in me had to come tromping out and turn Pingu into a learning opportunity about gestures and vocalizations we use to communicate emotions. Yes, I'm a nerd. No, you don't want me watching cartoons in your house. Really, I had to come up with a reason why my brother should allow Pingu in his house even though the Pinguinese sounds drive him crazy. Bossy older sister complex in full gear.

If you're interested in hearing a bit of Pinguinese, check out the website. And if you're even more interested in welcoming Pingu and his pals into your home for a bit of mischievous fun, Amazon has the movie.

Pingu was all new to us, but now we not only have the movie we also have (thanks to my mom and her amazing research skills) dozens of Pingu episodes that aired on tv. Oh, yeah. We're addicts. And next week I'm teaching a drama class, and what do you think I'll be showing to my students as an illustration of storyline without dialogue? Pingu.

Pass the popcorn.

*****

(c) 2008 Creature Bug. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Rachel]

Sounds fun. And I love that you use your "teacher skills" to make it all about learning. You are so clever!
Had fun yesterday...thanks again for the yummy egg salad!!

[Alida]

Yep, my kids like Pingu. It drives me a bit crazy when they run around saying, Pingu, Pingu, Pingu, Pingu...on and on all day long.

[Margaret]

I adore penguin movies and own them all. They are such an unnatural, yet cute animal.

[Sarah]

yeah, it's contagious that pingu...we haven't watched it for a while because i was sick of it and i'm staring to have withdrawals. i do get a kick out of clover when she talks pinguinese, we all get a good laugh.

[Kimberly]

Pingu is a favorite at my house. It is a good thing there is no dialogue though, becaseu he is one naughty claymation character!