If a person was considering watching a 2018 animated movie called "Penguin Highway," the poster of which shows a flood of flying penguins carrying a boy and young woman into the air, your first question would naturally be: "Do you like penguins?" And the natural answer would be "Of course! Everyone loves penguins!" As cute as penguins are, I always remind myself that in person, they reek horribly of fish and bird poop. But through the protection of a movie screen, they tend to make just about any movie better. However, to only walk into this movie knowing that penguins are involved might misguide you. Yes, penguins have a significant presence here, but why specifically were they chosen for the magical realism mystery that unfolds? Most likely, the author heard the term (presumably, a real term refering to penguins walking the same path when they migrate back home) and was inspired by it, but otherwise had no significant reason. Indeed, the real story is about Aoyama, the inquisitive young boy at the center, discovering that he may not fully understand the world after all. As the poster's tagline states, "Penguins are only the tip of the iceberg!"Aoyama is a eight-ish year-old boy in school. From his dialogue and the actors' delivery, we gather he may have a sort of 'gifted aspergers' personality, although no such serious medical comment is made in the movie, so this may very well just be the typical "intellectual but lacking in social situations" type of personality many young adult men tend to have in anime. Aoyama is the sort to keep several notebooks, one for each 'research project' he conducts, some simple exploration you would expect for a child, some seemingly legitimate work that would go over a typical adult's head. His serious attitude and understanding of the world makes him believe to himself that he will no doubt be successful, rich and famous, and that many women will no doubt want to marry him one day. All of this, despite not being the smartest in his class (that title belongs to a girl, to whom he respects and equates his lack of jealousy as yet another admirable quality of his character). However, Aoyama already has a crush on an older woman, an assistant in her mid-20's at the local dentist office, with whom Aoyama spends time playing chess and discussing his research. Very quickly in the movie, a group of penguin is seen in a grassy field in their town of Japan, far away from where they ought to be. As Aoyama continues to research them, the mystery of their existance only continues to get stranger, and the dental assistant (only refered to as "The Lady" in the movie) might have something to do with it. The premise is a little strange for what would seem a children's movie. The magic involved, high-level science, and that Aoyama spends a good chunk of time theorizing about his fascination with women's breasts and his crush on "The Lady" are all a bit much for a young audience. The original novel was written by Tomihiko Morimi, which explains a lot: this is the same author behind other popular anime such as "Night is Short, Walk on Girl," The Eccentric Family" and "The Tatami Galaxy." All of these adaptations are squarely for adults, but also feature some of the strongest writing you can find in an anime. One should therefore be warned when taking children to see "Penguin Highway," since some dialogue and behavior (especially some rather mean-spirited behavior from the class bullies) can be tough to watch, although not entirely inappropriate for children 10-years and above. And both children and adults will likely be rewarded, as the story of "Penguin Highway" is incredibly imaginative, even if it does have a few holes. 
I've heard one reviewer compare "Penguin Highway" to the other 2018 anime film "Mirai," as both involve a young child having to learn life lessons in a fantastical sort of way. I would sooner compare it to the 2017 anime film "Fireworks," as both have a high-level sci-fi fantasy element hidden underneath the emotional thematic elements. In either case, "Penguin Highway" comes off a bit better for that originality. Little is published about the plot of the novel or the film, and even if there were, it's complex enough to be difficult to summarize, so most viewers will likely walk in blind and walk out impressed, if slightly confused. The story is surprisingly effective as a family-friendly mystery, for despite using rules outside the laws of physics, it provides enough clues and enough time before the big revelation for the audience to try to guess it first, a trait many mystery stories forget or fail to accomplish. But when objects seem to shape-shift, and multi-dimensional planes start to cross over each other, things might seem a bit more complicated than a viewer intended. All of which, of course, is intended to represent the internal emotional and psychological conclusions that Aoyama is coming to at the end, not unlike "FLCL." These are ambitious ideas, and that the director of the movie was able to portray everything in a way without losing us entirely is impressive.Speaking of direction, the production values for "Penguin Highway" are consistently "very good." It was made by Studio Colorido, a relatively new studio for whom this is their first feature-length movie. The movie is fairly colorful, but not aggressively so. Backgrounds (and the armies of penguins) make some limited use of 3D animation, but most of the movie uses standard 2D animation, looking better than a typical television anime, but not quite as detailed or as confident as something from Studio Ghibli, Studio Chizu, or anything Makoto Shinkai would make. The distinctive character designs and their expressive faces are probably the most noteworthy element, appearing comical in a manner that reminded me of the American comic "Peanuts." Of course, the penguins, animated to look and move fairly realistically, are absolutely adorable. There are a handful of setpiece moments when the animation does have a chance to shine, but these are few and far between, and even then feel like the studio was holding back, epecially compared to their previous short "Typhoon Noruda." Overall, it's very good, but never looks particularly "great." Would a different director (Masaaki Yuada perhaps) or a different studio have delivered a more effective production? We'll never know, but I don't feel too let down.The music is generally not too noticable, aside from the great ending credits tune by Hikaru Utada, the same reclusive artist behind the popular "Kingdom Hearts" video game theme songs. Having had a chance to watch the English dub, I feel the actors did a fine job, although Aoyama's non-emotional delivery makes him difficult to "act" in an effective manner, and the bizarre story somehow feels more appropriate when listening to in Japanese.Hopefully, this is the first of many new and exciting feature films from Studio Colorido, and is a great first effort with enough originality to make them feel distinct to other anime studios currently working. "Penguin Highway" is utterly charming and wholly original, a case where it's worth more than simply the sum of its parts, even if some of those parts aren't fully developed. I'm certain those "holes" will be fixed in future movies in time.