The coming-of-age story follows an Adélie penguin named Steve, who joins fellow males in the icy Antarctic spring on a quest to build a suitable nest, find a life partner and start a family.

As the months go by, the chicks grow into young adults, and as summer ends, the penguins return to the waters for the rest of the year.

[5] In the United States and Canada, Penguins was released alongside Breakthrough, and was projected to gross $5–7 million from 1,800 theaters in its five-day opening weekend.

The website's critical consensus reads: "Disneynature: Penguins plays up its subjects' adorable appeal with a beautifully filmed documentary that adds plenty of anthropomorphic entertainment value for young viewers".

[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[8] Variety's Courtney Howard called Penguins a "sweet, sentimental Earth Day documentary" and wrote: "Instead of bombarding the audience with factoids and heavy scientific terminology, it lets a poignant narrative unspool — one with an engaging, highly accessible and hugely entertaining underdog hero's journey".