The Penguin Lessons

Yes, it’s ostensibly sweet and inoffensive. But it’s so inoffensive that it’s almost, well, offensive.

Peter Cattaneo...is normally a surer hand with shading, but the script by Coogan’s regular collaborator Jeff Pope...also keeps defaulting to penguin lols – it waddles, it’s cute, repeat – rather than giving the ensemble much to do.

Adapted from Tom Michell’s autobiographical book, The Penguin Lessons counters the inspirational teacher cliches with a bumbling charm that’s boosted considerably by a first-rate performance from the scene-stealing penguin.

This movie is enjoyable to watch and has its serious side. At the end of the day, though, it’s mainly about a schoolteacher and a penguin. The political upheaval is there but it is not examined in any detail.

Sure, penguins can do an impressive amount. But, despite what The Penguins Lessons implies, that does not extend to singlehandedly defeating fascism.

While the film offers heartwarming moments and gentle humour, it ultimately plays it safe ­– neither fully embracing its quirky premise or digging into its historica setting.

Coogan does nice work shading the moral ambiguities of his character, although the movie is ultimately resistant to exploring the thornier aspects of its political backdrop.

In trying to be all things to all audiences, it became not enough to any of them.

Coogan is fantastic, as always, but he could not make this work.

Just think of any movie you’ve ever seen about a teacher, from “Dead Poets Society” to “Dangerous Minds” — and add a penguin.