Penguin Highway

Where do penguins come from?

Prior to the events in this film, young Aoyama (Kana Kita) could probably have told you in great detail. He's a child who's very proud of his knowledge, highly intelligent and fond of study. In one early scene in this film, he provides an amazing demonstration of how these things can be used to reduce a bully twice one's size to tears. But when he sets out to investigate the mysterious appearance of a colony of penguins in his small Japanese town, the world begins to look a great deal stranger.

Hiroyasu Ishida's début feature as director, which won the Satoshi Kon award for Best Animated Feature at Fantasia 2018, has oodles of charm and perfectly captures that moment in life when the teenage years are fast approaching but there's still time for childhood adventures. Aoyama is smitten with a woman he met in his dentist's office, whom he has persuaded to tutor him at chess, and enlists her help to explore the penguin phenomenon. There's also a girl in his school who has briefly turned his head because he's seen her with science books, but he can't think why she should be following him around demanding to be part of his investigation. Aoyama's intense curiosity tends to make him forget his obligations to other people more generally, but his enthusiasm makes him great company.

The social dynamics of the film and the cuteness of the penguins are easily enough to make it entertaining, but Ishida treats his central premise as more than just a gimmick, and before long the film has morphed into a curious sort of science fiction, as clever as it is playful. The child's eye view allows room to present scientific ideas from an unusual perspective, whilst Aoyama's love of - well, one might call it childsplaining - allows for exposition to be slotted in where it's useful without detracting from the mood. Everything looks beautiful, of course, and there's no danger of the film becoming dry. The intellectual game being played is wholly accessible without being patronising.

Highly imaginative and definitely original, Penguin Highway will fill viewers of all ages with wonder. in an age where science is often presented as the bad guy, it's great to see a film that encourages the asking of questions and reminds us of the joy of discovery.