Marina (The Pebble and the Penguin)

Marina is the deuteragonist of the Don Bluth 1995 traditional animated film, The Pebble and the Penguin. She is the most beautiful female penguin in the whole rookery and Hubie's love interest. She is essentially a bland love interest. Surprisingly, she is actually likable in her own right.

Why She's Now and Forever

 * 1) For being a bland love interest, Marina is actually a likable and well written character, compared to most love interests.
 * 2) She is sweet, kind, loving, and beautiful both inside and out.
 * 3) Speaking of beautiful, she is the most beautiful penguin in the whole rookery in Antarctica; not just because of her appearance, but she doesn’t center around an engagement stone; thinking the pebble shouldn’t be important, but cares about mating with the right penguin; not choosing the first male penguin that courts her.
 * 4) She did like the pebble Hubie got for her, not after telling him, "But don't you know? It's not the pebble, it's the penguin. I love you even more.", which goes to show that she values Hubie over material riches.
 * 5) Even if Marina has little to no chemistry or reason to fall in love with Hubie, she still loves him for his sweet, kind, caring, character and ignores his flaws. Her romantic relationship with Hubie is sweet and healthy, while she fell in love with Hubie for who he is, not for what pebble he gives her.
 * 6) She rightfully resists the status quo. While the other female penguins adore Drake, Marina recognizes Drake for the vain, cruel-hearted pervert he is, specifically to her.
 * 7) Marina was not afraid to say no when Drake repeatedly pesters her to forget about Hubie every time he asks her for her hand in mating, even if her rejecting Drake was the reason the latter threatened her life if she doesn't choose him, or could possibly result in getting banished from the Rookery for failing to choose a mate.
 * 8) Also while in danger, Marina takes advantage to try to flee the scene when she has the chance, though her escape attempts always backfires, due to Drake overpowering her. Fortunately, Hubie managed to rescue her just in time.
 * 9) Her voice is pleasant to listen to (especially when she sings). Speaking of which Annie Golden, did a fine job voicing her and even provided her singing voice.
 * 10) Marina never lost faith in Hubie, knowing he was still alive, and remains optimistic that he (Hubie) will find his way home in time for the Full Moon Mating Ceremony.
 * 11) She has admittedly of the most beautiful character designs in the film, in spite of being uncanny.

The Only Not Now and Forever Qualities

 * 1) While still a good character on her own, she still is a bland love interest who barely (due to the mechanics of the plot) has any chemistry with or reason to fall for Hubie.
 * 2) Her design (while still attractive) looks pretty uncanny due to having fingers and teeth, none of which real life penguins possess.

Trivia

 * Marina is similar to Belle in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast", just by not only being the leading lady of the film, but also by being the most beautiful, the romantic object of the villain, the exceptional lady (as all others admire him), and she has feelings for the hero instead.
 * Marina's character design is incredibly similar to Mrs. Brisby's from mh:greatestmovies:The Secret of NIMH.
 * In the German dub of the film Alexandra Wilcke voices her, she also voiced Snow White, Nala, and Pocahontas in the German versions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Lion King series and Pocahontas series, respectively.
 * She's a lot similar to Ariel from Disney version of The Little Mermaid when she sings and swims.

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