Review: Happy Feet

5 February 2007

by Tim Beeson

Reviews

I’m fully supportive of the film Happy Feet, the first animated project of that scale on Australian shores, utilising many of the talented animators living in Australia. I for one am going to see it twice, hopefully that will contribute to its success and hopefully Australian animators will be recognized.

That being said, aside from the above reasons, should you go see it? Yes, it is an enjoyable romp with all the heart that you would expect from this sort of film. The story however, is part teen angst film (young kid finds himself different and trying to fit in) and part Eco Propaganda and hardly new at all. I wasn’t sure who the target audience was – was it for kids, with bits adults could appreciate? I think some of the concepts might have been above the heads of some of the kids and like Babe & Babe 2, manages to cross some dark lines that it establishes earlier in the movie. Or was it for Adults with some cute animals that the kids will love? It relies heavily on the Ameri-teen theme of only the popular kids get the girl – though it does start out with the Girl liking the angsty boy (possibly the first mainstream Emo film for kids)

The main character Mumble is cursed without the ability to sing, but finds that his ‘Happy Feet’ more than make up for the lack of vocal talent as he is the only penguin who can dance. This is a little bit hard to pick up as other penguins all dance as they sing, but you do get the point that this Mumble is different/special.

In the film, a fairly strong mythology is given for the penguins which helps establish a good view of penguin society, all penguins can sing (except Mumble) and use this as their tool to attract mates. This is a good premise and i think George Miller does it injustice by going down the path of Mulan Rouge and using Modern classics to represent the ‘Great songs’ of penguin society.
It has its moments, but relies quite a bit on Parody gags – Memphis (Mumble’s dad) is the most obvious with his hip swinging and Elvis drawl.

Even with its Extensive Aussie cast and crew, the only time you hear ‘Australian’ is the elephant seals about half way through the film.

On the Animation side the Visuals are breathtaking, Penguin, Seal and Killer Whale are all solid functioning characters with an impressive acting range. The Ice, Snow, Feathers, Footprints, Water, and effects all are painstakingly crafted and its a pity the beauty is held at bay by an average story. There are several setup shots that would have been incredible tasks to set up and they look fantastic. Visually the only fall-down is the integration of live action people who’s acting is more wooden than the penguins.

This is not Nemo, it lacks that little bit of polish that Pixar puts into its films,but, all being said I didn’t think I wasted my time seeing it and will see it again. For Animal Logic, it is a great step, and I look forward to the next one.

This review was first published at Animoronic.