The world is bad right now, but it's not as harsh and uninhabitable as the Antarctic, which is why I derive such strength from the penguins in March Of The Penguins: The Next Step. The sequel to the 2005 documentary lands on Hulu today, and once again stars Morgan Freeman as the soothing and all-knowing narrator. While the first installment focused on the penguins' journey to the breeding grounds, The Next Step tells the story of what happens after. Meaning, yes, it's pretty much an hour and a half of cute penguin babies. I wasn't aware that I was also a cute penguin baby until I watched the documentary, and found myself relating to pretty much every thing they did during their first squawks of life. These chubby, fuzzy dumplings spend their days asking for food and flopping over, and I'll be honest: same! But there's so much more to their journey that resonates, so I've laid it all out below. Here are the nine most relatable things about the penguins in March Of The Penguins: The Next Step.
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1. They are "apprehensive and excited" about the ocean. One time I got caught in a wave, and my bathing suit came off, so me, too.
2. They can't stop falling over and bouncing on their bellies. I've found myself in similar situations while trying to walk in the snow.
3. Apparently, they "flirt" with each other before before mating, and now I need to know their pick-up lines.
4. There is such a thing as "napping weather" for penguins.
5. They don't want their parents to leave. They chase them. It's so cute!
6. They have very specific spots where they'd like to stand, and if another penguin is standing there, they jostle them out of the way with their beaks, even though there's so much adequate space to occupy nearby.
7. The babies do not like getting into the water before they are ready, and if they are prematurely wet, they will whine.
8. The parents have yearly mutual yet devastating breakups once the child is ready to go out on its own.
9. The fact that a newly hatched child needs "to eat and eat and then eat some more and then eat." Unfortunately, most of their first meals are a substance that their parents spit up into their mouths which, I'll be honest, I find less relatable.
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