Hello readers and welcome back to the Short Short Review! Just as a refresher, in this column, I attempt to review a short film or story in a really short number of words. To continue the animal trend for this term, I’ll be reviewing the first episode of the strange children’s Claymation show, Pingu, in 309 words, the length of the episode in seconds.
For those that never had the opportunity to watch Pingu as a child, the show is about a child penguin named Pingu and his various adventures with his friends and parents. All the characters speak in gibberish that sounds like squawking and honking horns. In the first episode, we are introduced to Pingu’s parents, his two friends Pingo and Pingg.
The episode begins with Pingu having a meal with his parents where he is acting obnoxious and is scolded by his parents. A short time later he goes to outside to play with his ball and is bullied by Pingo and Pingg. His ball is broken over his head and Pingu gets comforted by his parents.
The story itself is fairly hard to follow at times because of the lack of dialogue but the story is simple enough that you don’t really need to pay attention all the time. However, the distinctive animation is what drives Pingu to be a memorable children’s show.
The Claymation is impressive and emphasizes Pingu’s emotions and behaviour perfectly in the episode. Things that are gross look gross and things that aren’t don’t. The sound effects can be annoying at times but complement the visual presentation nicely.
To wrap things up, Pingu’s first episode is an admirable effort in one of the longest running children’s shows. The plot is a bit thin so I’m going to give it 3 penguins out of 5. Next issue I’ll be reviewing something completely different. Stay tuned!
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