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The Penguin Lessons
Directed by
Peter Cattaneo
PG-13
2025
1h 51m
Drama
7.1
78%
95%
7.1
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A disillusioned Englishman who goes to work in a school in a divided Argentina in 1976 finds his life transformed when he rescues an orphaned penguin from the beach.
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Where to Watch The Penguin Lessons
Netflix
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Amazon Video
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Apple TV
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Cast of The Penguin Lessons
Steve Coogan
Tom Michell / Executive Producer
Jonathan Pryce
Headmaster Buckle
Vivian El Jaber
Maria
Björn Gustafsson
Tapio
Alfonsina Carrocio
Sofia
David Herrero
Diego
Micaela Breque
Carina
Tomás Pozzi
Bursar
Ramiro Blas
Márquez
Juan Barreiro
Uruguayan Police Officer
Aimar Miranda
Ernesto
Nicanor Fernandez
Igor
Hugo Fuertes
Ramiro
Bruno Blas
Armed Guard
Julia Fossi
Anna
Brendan McNamee
Cooper
Joaquín Lopez
Víctor
Miguel Alejandro Serrano
Walter
Gerardo Maleh
Santino
Francesca Vaccari
Tango Dancer
The Penguin Lessons Ratings & Reviews
Washington Post
Ty Burr
When all is said and done, "The Penguin Lessons" is about finding the courage to stand up to injustice at one's own peril
Eye for Film
Jennie Kermode
Coogan is well cast in this tricky role, moving easily from humour to heartbreak...
Observer
Rex Reed
Despite the danger of G-rated sentimentality, which everyone involved heroically avoids, The Penguin Lessons is a work of surprising depth and subtle, irresistible impact.
Less Hat, Moorhead
M.V. Moorhead
The Penguin Lessons has laughs, but it's also character-driven and melancholy; in the long run it could fairly be called a tearjerker. It's hard to imagine the movie working as well as it does with anyone but Coogan in the lead.
Movies and Shakers
Linda and Al Lerner
Coogan is cantankerously funny and Juan Salvador penguin is so very charming. Cattaneo gives both personality as they become buddies. While penguins thrive in icy waters, The Penguin Lessons teaches a bond that will melt your heart.
Culture Mix
Carla Hay
Slightly better than the average 'cute pet' movie, The Penguin Lessons is a drama with a typical formula of someone who reluctantly takes care of an animal and becomes the animal's close friend. The 'true story' aspects and performances elevate the film.
Tribune News Service
Katie Walsh
Cattaneo and Pope manage to balance the tone of a dramatic historical depiction of fascism with a charming animal story and their secret weapon is Coogan.
TheWrap
William Bibbiani
If you're not crying at the end, when 'The Penguin Lessons' wants you to cry, then you're the one who really needs a penguin.
AARP Movies for Grownups
Thelma Adams
Strangely moving and often funny, The Penguin Lessons is winningly acted by Coogan, who has a knack for plumbing the souls of curmudgeons and coming up with hidden gold.
RogerEbert.com
Matt Zoller Seitz
"The Penguin Lessons" wants to be a thoughtful light entertainment about ideals and courage, but ends up seeming grotesquely misguided.
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Unfortunately, the thin story feels terribly stretched and often doesn't make sense.
Movie Mom
Nell Minow
There is so much warmth and humor in this story that we cannot help feeling touched by the story and maybe even thinking about a penguin of our own.
NPR
Bob Mondello
The cutesiness doesn't end there, nor the broad but timid messaging, nor the main character's personal growth, all of which the filmmakers apparently regard as sufficient in a film set during a horrific period of dictatorial brutality.
Arizona Republic
Dina Kaur
Coogan has a witty and dry sense of humor and expressiveness to him that contrasts with Björn Gustafsson delight silliness and lighthearted delivery.
New York Times
Glenn Kenny
The rest of the picture is largely winsome and inoffensive.
Austin Chronicle
Richard Whittaker
While familiar territory for Pope and Coogan, it's a return for director Peter Cattaneo...
San Jose Mercury News
Randy Myers
Still, if you're looking for a heart warmer, this one is up to that task and might even cement a lump in your throat.
The Hollywood Reporter
Frank Scheck
It emerges as an engaging delight from start to finish... The Penguin Lessons also proves unexpectedly moving, its emotional manipulations fully forgivable.
Variety
Guy Lodge
This is amusing stuff, well served by Coogan's knack for haughty composure in the face of the absurd. The film is less convincing, however, when it reaches into the realm of the tragic.
IndieWire
Beandrea July
Using a distorted version of crucial historical events as a plot device that lionizes the British expat in a country that is not his own isn't pathos, it's objectification.
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