Happy Feet, 2006
Happy Feet, 2006
Directed by George Miller & Warren Coleman
Written by Warren Coleman & John Collee
Cast:
Carlos Alazraqui ... Nestor (voice)
Lombardo Boyar ... Raul (voice)
Jeffrey Garcia ... Rinaldo (voice) (as Jeff Garcia)
Johnny A. Sanchez ... Lombardo (voice) (as Johnny Sanchez III)
Robin Williams ... Ramon/Lovelace (voice)
Elijah Wood ... Mumble (voice)
Brittany Murphy ... Gloria (voice)
Hugh Jackman ... Memphis (voice)
Nicole Kidman ... Norma Jean (voice)
Hugo Weaving ... Noah the Elder (voice)
I know, I thought it, too: Penguins? What the hell is up with all the penguins lately? First we had the damn live-action penguins, and now we have the CGI penguins. I refuse to support this penguinism. Enough is enough.
Last weekend, my parents and I babysat our friend's 2-year-old daughter, and she demanded (demanded!) that we watch Happy Feet. There was going to be no rest until penguins appeared on our TV screen. Like good babysitters, we gave in -- and we were engrossed in this "kids'" movie as the 2-year-old toddled away to demand to the fridge that the dog stay away from her. None of us could be bothered to placate her or even to turn on the lights as the sun sank behind the mountains. My mom even sat through the entire movie instead of disappearing to the basement as she usually does. This is a testament to the quality and entertainment value of this film, despite the recent rash of penguinistic films.
In a land of singing penguins, the aptly named Mumble is born with, well, happy feet. He dances to express himself and he cannot sing as the other penguins do, which makes him an outcast in this relatively conformist penguin-society. Mumble's government (for lack of a better term) is concerned about the lack of fish available to them, and the penguin in charge claims that their God Penguin must dislike them; in fact, Mumble's inability to sing must be a sign of the penguin-apocalypse. Mumble, however, believes that there must be some other explanation for their diminishing food supply, perhaps the "aliens" who had tagged a bird with a plastic tracking ring. Soon, and after a humiliating exchange with a more popular, more talented penguin, Mumble finds himself on an icefloe drifting from his native Antarctica north to the southern tip of South America. He arrives on land and meets los chicos, a group of shorter Spanish-speaking penguins, Raul, Ramon, Rinaldo, Nestor, y Lombardo, and they, ahem, take Mumble under their collective wing. While he is in their care, they take him to see the "Guru," Lovelace, an Emperor penguin who has been adorned with a necklace that gives him infinite knowledge (or, in human-speak, a popcan ring stuck around his neck conjoined with a flair for charismatic preaching), and Mumble asks him if he has ever been abducted by aliens. Before long, Lovelace, los chicos, and Mumble are on a journey to find the aliens to see if they can remove Lovelace's choking necklace.
Happy Feet is billed as a kids' movie, but judging by the 2-year-old's reaction to the film, which was one of relative ambivalence, it's a tad too involved for the typical kid. However, for adults who aren't afraid to watch animated movies, this one is a crowd-pleaser. The plot drags sometimes, and Robin Williams' voice is everywhere, but it's overall highly entertaining. I ended up totally identifying with Mumble in the end -- who doesn't love the outcast under-penguin? -- and the music was very good. It's hard to beat a movie that starts with Prince's "Kiss" collaborating with Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel" (okay, that's totally beatable, but whatever, it's fun). Finally, the overall message is uplifting and applicable, and I was very, very close to tears in the end. My parents thought the ending was a little weird, and some of the relationships are strangely ambiguous in the end, but I enjoyed watching it and felt good when it was over.
If you've got kids in the house and Happy Feet in the DVD player, don't expect them to sit still through the whole movie. You might consider strapping them down while you watch, though, so they don't talk to inanimate objects over the soundtrack.
Overall: B-.