In the cold land of Antarctica, the Emperor Penguins each express their true love with a special heartsong of their own that expresses their very being. However, the misfit Mumble cannot sing, but instead has an extraordinary talent to tap dance with almost magical energy and expression. Nevertheless, the deeply conformist leadership of the colony fearfully blames the young penguin's unorthodox ways for the lean fishing that threatens them all. Defiant in the face of unjust rejection, Mumble and his true friends set out to find the true cause of the famine. Through the motley crew's trials and perils, Mumble learns many things about his frozen world, not the least of which being that his toe tapping talent may be what he needs to save his people.
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REVIEW

"Happy Feet" is fun, somewhere between Bambi (Two-Disc Special Edition) for penguins and, as many have said, a musical version of "March of the Penguins" with a social message.

What it is not is lasting. The best animated movies, like "Aladdin (Disney Special Platinum Edition)" (also starring Robin Williams), "Beauty and the Beast (Disney Special Platinum Edition)," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney Special Platinum Edition)," and the aforementioned "Bambi," have more going on than shtick. "Happy Feet" relies too much on shtick. This makes it entertaining the first time through, and probably not the second.

The animation is often much better than "Shrek (Full Screen Single Disc Edition)" and "Monsters, Inc. (Collector's Edition)" The wry humor is as good as, or better than, the best of the Veggie Tales shorts (way better than "Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie"). The music will make an interesting soundtrack.

What's the shtick? A dancing penguin. Great premise, but the animation's timing is weak. The sound of the tapping does not equal what is on screen. The dance routine becomes exactly that, routine. We see it once, twice, three times. The fifteenth time, I was bored with it.

The food chain is explained well, as is the competition for food. Penguins, birds, humans, all eat fish. Some birds also eat penguins. When humans eat more fish, birds eat more penguins, and the penguin population naturally declines.

When the penguins suffer, they look for solutions. Some ideas are silly, and blame the conservative side of penguins -- very 1950s-style Soviet communism (with a dose of Native American animism and a weaker dose of 1890s Christian revivalism). Others are survivalist, requiring endurance of characters. Mumbles becomes an unwilling solution finder. He is not looking at the big picture, he presses naively through hardship to ask simply if the humans (he thinks they are aliens) can help.

Survival of the fittest is clear here. The struggle, the ingenuity and resourcefulness of survival is played well.

The music, especially the introductory songs, are great fun. It will appeal mostly to fans of late 1970s and 1980s music. Its brilliance is in the mixing of songs so well that a first time listening might not realizing it is a medley.

Williams is better than he has been recently, especially with his Barry White - All-Time Greatest Hits styled guru penguin, Lovelace.

Characters are not always well-explained. They come and go, occasionally for no reason. This could be bad writing or editing, but, either way, left me confused.

"Happy Feet" could be considered a movie in which the main character tries to find himself. Or, if the audience wants to think more heavily than intended, Mumbles the dancing penguin is Martin Luther, an artist, an unwilling revolutionary, or a gay activist. It flirts with all of this, but never enough to dominate the message.

I saw it once, had fun, should have waited for the DVD. Should you see it? Sure. You too will tap your feet, laugh a little, but it is no great animated movie.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
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