"Now and Forever"   Barry Manilow / Bruce Sussman   (STREAMLINED - PLAYS IMMEDIATELY)

(Non-streamlined version - Real Audio 658K)

  The Pebble and the Penguin (I believe originally titled "The Penguin Story") tells the story of penguin Hubie's attempt to find (and keep!) a pebble for the apparently true Adeli penguin ceremony of winning a mate on the acceptance of a pebble! - Hey, its not so wierd!  Ever heard of engagement rings?!

Hubie fails miserably to find his would-be mate Marina a pebble and as he continues to search for a pebble into the night he looks at the stars and makes a wish...    Suddenly there is a light in the sky, and a moment later Hubie has to take cover, as a green meteor flies to the ground.  Hubie picks up the glowing green meteorite, and tears off to find Marina to give it to her, hopeful that she'll like this pebble.

Before he can find her he is stopped by Drake (voiced by Tim Curry), a large penguin bully type who demands the stone from him.  Hubie refuses, and so Drake pushes him off the ice and into the Leopard Seal infested waters where Hubie narrowly escapes being eaten, but is washed out to sea on the small iceberg he managed to climb onto, still holding his pebble.  The next time we see him he has been captured by the crew of the "Misery", a ship out hunting for penguins to sell to zoos.  With the help of Rocko (the Rockhopper), a tough-guy penguin with some pretty big eyebrows who dreams of being able to fly, he manages to escape, but they find themselves on a hot sunny beach thousands of miles from the Antarctic, where Marina has to choose a mate before the full-moon mating ceremony in 10 days time or face banishment...

I've seen some pretty biting words from film critics regarding this film on the net, one saying something along the lines of the film teaching boys that the way to solve conflicts is with violence, and to girls that their part in life is to wait to be fought over, then get married.   If you ask me, you could say the same thing about the stories of King Arthur, Robin Hood, and probably loads of others!   I can't help thinking when I hear those reviews that the reviewer sat down and watched the film having already decided they didn't like it, and were waiting for something to happen to change their minds.   Having watched it I have to say that while its never going to be called a classic, and I agree it has a fairly simple story, and some of the penguins ARE a little strange-looking, (although thats probably because they have been drawn as penguins, rather than as people who look like penguins) I can't say most of the bad things said about it are particularly justified.  It is a very well-drawn film, and has had many more hours of work put into making it something to be enjoyed than the reviewers put into trashing it.   You could do worse than to watch The Pebble and the Penguin yourself, and make up your own mind!