A Penguin's Memories

A Penguin's Tale is a 1987 American-Japanese animated film from 1987. It is an English dub of the 1985 Japanese anime film called Penguin Memory. It is directed by Martin Rosen and Mel Brooks and is produced by Akira Sugatani and Mel Brooks. It stars "Weird Al" Yankovic as Mike, a penguin who served in the Delta War, who returns home after the war but has received post-traumatic stress disorder a few minutes before the war was over. It is produced by CM Land and Hakuhodo and is distributed by Warner Bros. Suntory Beer also produced the film, as it's where the film inspiration came from, but they were uncredited in the US release due to the product not getting a US release.

Plot
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Cast

 * "Weird Al" Yankovic as Mike
 * Debbie Reynolds as Jill
 * Frank Welker as Tom, Car Driver
 * J.K. Simmons as Al
 * Lou Diamond Phillips as Jack
 * June Foray as Madam O'Hara & Mike's Mom
 * Jim Broadbent as Paul
 * Lea Thompson as Susan & Peggy
 * Ed Asner as Bob Adams
 * Hank Azaria as Dr. Moe
 * Mickey Rooney as The Librarian
 * Jerry Stiller as Jimmy
 * Tom Bosley as The Piano Player
 * Tim Curry as The Police Officer

Production
After the release of the film in Japan, film producer Mel Brooks saw the movie and consulted with Martin Rosen, the director of Watership Down, about making an English version. Rosen agreed with this and the dub went into production. It was originally slated for a January 1987 release but was pushed to June of that year because it took the 2 and Rosen's production company, Nepenthe Productions, several months to find a distributor before eventually coming across Warner Bros.

When the film's title came to view by Brooks and Rosen, they thought that the film's original title, which literally translates to Penguin's Memory: A Tale of Happiness, did not work very well, and changed the movie's name to A Penguin's Tale due to it fitting the film a bit more.

While the dub is fairly faithful to the original movie, a few differences were inserted as well, these include:
 * Al's line "If we could give him a cold beer, he'd get better in no time." was changed to "You better give him some medicine, Mike, or he'll die."
 * When Al is describing his girlfriend, he instead describes her as "the most beautiful penguin you'll ever see"
 * Mike saying Jill's name after Jill reveals that she loves him is cut out as Brooks found the line unnecessary
 * Most of the soundtrack, with the exception of many sound effects and some music pieces, were replaced by music composed by Clint Mansell, as well as added into certain scenes that lack music, such as the scene when the police come to Mike's home after his brawl with Bob Adams.
 * In addition, during the Delta War scene, music that would later be used in Requiem For A Dream, another film that Mansell composed, is used.
 * The film's ending song is cut out, and an instrumental theme plays in the final scene, and the credits instead play the song Livin' On a Prayer by Bon Jovi.
 * Mike's pet bird, Chico, is renamed to Winifred.
 * Mike's line to Bob Adams and the 2 other penguins "How about you people give up?" is changed to "You can just find somebody else!", in addition, Bob's line "I can't do that, if this little lady runs off on me, it will all have been for nothing" is altered to "No way! She's the best singer I've ever had!".

Release
A Penguin's Tale had its premiere in New York City, USA on June 5th, 1987, and was released in American theaters on June 12th, 1987.

Rating
A Penguin's Tale received a PG-13 rating for violence and strong language, as well as frightening scenes and alcoholic references.

Box Office
At first, Martin Rosen didn't know how the movie would do at the box office, due to Watership Down's US box office failure. Much to his surprise, the film managed to earn $100,583,839 against a budget of $9.9 million.

Critical Reception
A Penguin's Tale initially received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the story and voice acting, while others criticized the dark tone, and described the animation as "clunky". The New York Times stated, "It has its moments, it's very dark moments, but it never tries to be like The Shining or something".

However, in recent years, the movie has obtained a cult following, with TV airings on HBO, and reception has been warmer ever since it's release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 80% based on 97 reviews, the site's critical consensus reads "The animation is a bit clunky, but you just don't care. It's an anime film that definitely deserves a watch". The film in 2018 also started to become a bit notorious for the fact the character designs from Club Penguin strongly resemble the character designs from this movie.

Awards
The film was entered in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and won 6 awards.

Home Media
The film was originally released on VHS in February 1988 by Warner Home Video and then again in 1992, and later on DVD in 1999 as one of WHV's first DVD releases, this DVD release along with the subsequent DVD release plasters the 1984 version of the WB logo with the 1993 version.

On March 21st, 2006, during a wave a penguin media, Warner Bros released a special edition DVD release of A Penguin's Tale on DVD containing restored footage, a short behind the scenes documentary called "Flying the Penguin to the States: The Making of A Penguin's Tale", The original Japanese cut featuring a short 30 second introduction from Walter Murch, and a storyboard of Mike's conversation with Jack. In 2007, Warner Bros released the same film on Blu-Ray, and again in 2011, and then on 4K UHD Blu-Ray in 2017.