Happy Feet
Happy Feet is one of the best and enjoyable movies I've seen in years. I began looking forward to it more than a year before it hit the theaters based on
the brief trailer I saw at another movie, and knew that it was the one for me.
Basically, it's the story of a penguin named Mumble Happyfeet
because, immediately after hatching late from the egg, he starts dancing, which "just ain't penguin", according to his father Memphis, who blames himself because he
dropped the egg during the winter season (for those who don't know, once the egg is hatched, fathers carry and warm the egg for the winter while the mother's go off to
feed). As he grows, he finds that he's unable to sing, which means he potentially won't be able to find a mate as he grows older, since that's how penguins are
attracted to each other.
Along the way, however, he ends up with an infatuation with another young penguin named Gloria, who inadvertently named him, is threatened to be eaten by Boss Skua and
a group of skua gulls, before Boss tells him about his encounter with "aliens", the result of which is this yellow band around his leg, meets up with a group of Adelie
penguins (the Amigos) who become his friends, initially led by Ramon but later learns the leader is Lovelace, and embarks on a journey to discover why there's a
shortage of fish after seeing some "alien technology" when an excavator unearths itself after Mumble and the Amigos cause an avalanche.
This part of the movie is the subplot, and many critics have railed against the movie because of it, but they're way off base. Without the subplot, there isn't really
much of a movie other than a dancing penguin trying to fit in. Then again, some parents thought that the supposed sexual overtones of the movie were too much for
children; did any of them see March of the
Penguins?
This movie was visually stimulating for an animated flick, but what was truly amazing were the voices in the movie. Elijah Wood was fantastic as the slightly older
version of Mumble; the younger voice was listed as E. G. Daily, in reality actress Elizabeth Daily. Nicole Kidman shows off her pipes once again as his mother Norma
Jean, and Hugh Jackman was superb by Memphis; I may never look at Wolverine the same way again. For that matter, the voice of the elder penguin, Noah, was voiced by
Hugo Weaving, Mr. Smith of Matrix fame; I didn't see that one coming. Of course, the voice most people talked about later was Robin Williams as both Ramon and Lovelace;
great stuff all around. And, finally, the vocal qualities of Brittany Murphy were in full view for the first time, as I'd heard she had a wonderful voice, and it was
not only pleasant but very strong. I've found myself listening both to her version, then Queen's version of their song Somebody To Love many times.
Oh yes, the music in this movie was right from my favorite period for the most part, the 70's, though we had the song Kiss by Prince from the 80's, whose Song of the
Heart begins the credits, and a bit of Heartbreak Hotel from the 50's, ala Elvis, whom Memphis reminds people of. And, the dance sequences, which matched up perfectly
throughout the movie, were choreographed by none other than Savion Glover.
To say I loved this movie doesn't do it justice. To say that I saw it three times in the theater, and at least 20 times since I bought the DVD should honor it much
better. This was definitely the feel good movie of 2006, and if it hadn't won the Oscar, I might never have watched the Academy Awards again. It's rated PG because of
its themes, but any parent who doesn't allow their child to watch this movie, then doesn't sit down and talk to them about some of it, doesn't deserve to be a parent.
However, I will recommend that they also buy a copy of March of the Penguins, to help put everything into context either before or after watching Happy Feet
itself.
