Who knew 2024’s sweetest friendship would be between a Brazilian bricklayer and a Magellanic penguin? This is the 1st trailer for Roadside’s My Penguin Friend.
Inspired by true events, the trailer begins in a sleepy Brazilian town. Retiree Joao Pereira DeSouza (Jean Reno) discovers a penguin injured from a nearby oil spill. After he nurses it back to health, the penguin captivates the local community, who name him DinDim.
As the seasons change, DinDim soon swims away. But much to Joao’s surprise, he begins returning to his human friend every year, and a lifelong friendship begins.
But as more and more people become aware of DinDim, Joao must embark on a perilous journey to save his feathered friend from falling into the wrong hands.
Evoking the quiet charm of old-school Disney films like Eight Below, My Penguin Friend seems like a film guaranteed to bring out the tissue box. Reno, ever the reliable character actor, busts out a powerhouse lead performance in this trailer. His quiet kindness anchors a tear-jerking premise about the powerful bond between humans and animals.
In today’s culture where brooding antiheroes reign supreme, it’s nice to see a simple story of friendship and hope. If the film lives up to this first trailer, Roadside may have found itself a new family-friendly classic.
My Feathered Friend is directed by David Schurmann and is set to premiere in the US on August 16th, 2024. The film stars Jean Reno and Adriana Barazza.
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