The world has desperately needed a Netflix docuseries about African penguins taking over a South African town in order to keep its species alive, and thankfully Patton Oswalt is around to provide voiceover work on it. Fresh off the heels of an animated turn as M.O.D.O.K, Oswalt’s next project is Penguin Town, and it looks freaking adorable.
“There are a lot of movies about penguins,” Oswalt says in the trailer. “Then, there’s these birds.”
The footage over Oswalt’s words is of a bird struggling to get out of the water, sliding down a slope on his belly, backward back into the surf. More bumbling footage follows, and it becomes clear that this is not your ordinary nature series. Penguin Town, as it turns out, is a project Oswalt executive produced and will narrate when it hits Netflix next month that features a very unique set of birds in a very specific place: Africa.
Framed as equal parts adorable, educational, and hilarious, the footage captured of the birds stumbling over bowls of chips or beach toys and navigating the streets of Simon’s Town, South Africa just highlights the actual plight of very threatened African penguins. The town is the African penguin’s nesting grounds, which means it is home to an annual animal takeover that’s important for the survival of the species.
Here’s the description from Netflix:
After three months in a rehabilitation unit two penguin sisters, Ayoba and Rebecca, who were rescued as two-year- olds from an oil slick on the coast of Cape Town, are about to be released back into their parent colony. Now, fully mature and ready for first-time parenthood the two sisters must find mates, safe nesting sites, and provide for their chicks, all while living in one of the most unusual penguin colonies in the world.
That all sounds much more scientific than the trailer frames it, with stumbling penguins wandering a man-made town and just generally rocking out. As you can see from the footage, these little guys are ready to party.
[baywatch theme song intensifies] pic.twitter.com/44uNIzCYz6
— Brian Grubb (@briancgrubb) May 24, 2021
We’ll see how these goofy birds do in life and love when Penguin Town hits Netflix on June 16.
