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Mumble (Elijah Wood) is a natural-born hoofer – a tap dancer of tremendous talent. The only problem is that he’s an emperor penguin, and they don’t dance, they sing. Every emperor, from his mom Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) to his dad Memphis (Hugh Jackman) to his best friend Gloria (Brittany Murphy) has their own unique “heart song”. This song is used during mating season, and it’s the only route to true love. With a voice so awful that it causes avalanches, Mumble attracts the disapproval of Noah the Elder (Hugo Weaving), who eventually finds an excuse to banish this freak with the “happy feet”, blaming the shortage of fish on his “unnatural ways”. But Mumble is convinced that it is the mysterious “aliens” he keeps hearing about that are stealing all the fish. With the help of his new friends, a gaggle of smooth talking adelie penguins lead by the irrepressible Ramon (Robin Williams), Mumble sets out to find these creatures and save the emperors from starvation.
Review:
With so many new animation studios jumping on the bandwagon lately, you have to wonder if we need yet another set of pixel jockeys cranking out irritable iguanas and gregarious giraffes. But, though the team behind Happy Feet may be the new kids on the animation block, they are already showing stalwarts like Pixar and Dreamworks how it should be done.
Firstly, the filmmakers haven’t “cranked” out anything. The film’s combination of animation, motion capture and matte painting took a huge team four years to perfect, and the results of their labour are all up there on the screen. This is breathtakingly beautiful stuff, not just by the standards of animation, but the whole film world. Every aspect - from the tiniest fluffy feathers on the baby penguin’s bellies, to the majestic arctic ice plateau – is rendered to crisp perfection.
But this isn’t just another chocolate-boxy exercise in animation geekery, these guys have realised just how important a good story is to the movie’s ultimate success. Aside from its fun but rather gimmicky premise, the film has solid dramatic bones. For one thing it has the kind of epic scope that few animated films would dare to take on. Sure, we’ve seen a lot of the component parts of the tale before – the lone outcast on a quest to save an ungrateful people, a son in search of his father’s approval – but they’ve managed to make them seem fresh again.
As pretty and interesting as it may be, the film’s most memorable aspect is the fabulous soundtrack. An eclectic mix of old and new, it includes everything from The Beach Boys to Prince to Queen, not to mention an unforgettable rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” sung by Robin Williams. And the filmmakers haven’t simply bunged the tunes on top of the finished film – they have integrated them into the action and added all kinds of special touches to these much-loved songs. Animated or not, Happy Feet is a musical in the true sense of the word.
Even with all this action going on, the filmmakers have still managed to squeeze in the crowd-pleasing staples that have made animated films into a multi-billion dollar business. There’s plenty of cheeky humour, with Robin Williams leading the charge as the hilarious Ramon, not to mention enough cute ‘n cuddly critters to sink a battleship. The film’s trailers have concentrated largely on the baby penguins, and they are every bit as adorable as they look.
Not that the film is without flaws. The filmmakers have simply tried to cram too much into too little time. There are simply too many songs, too many subplots, too many characters and far too much complexity for such a young audience. The environmentalist message is laudable, but they have taken it too far, overstretching the boundaries of both interest and credibility. The film’s rushed, oversimplified conclusion is totally at odds with the brilliance of the rest of the film.
Though it ends on a somewhat sour note, Happy Feet is still one of the best animated films since Finding Nemo, the gold standard of kiddie movies. At the very least it will give kids (and adults) a remarkably true-to-life glimpse of the fascinating world of the Antarctic, with all its unique creatures and breathtaking beauty. And anyway, who could resist a dancing baby penguin?
- Alistair Fairweather
