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Sunday, May 11, 2014

Family Movie Night: Happy Feet

Title: Happy Feet
Directors: Judy Morris, Warren Coleman and George Miller
Original Release: 2006
Choice: Our Girl's
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5
via Wikipedia
Happy Feet was the first film we ever took our daughter to see in a movie theater.  She was terrified - the darkness and the booming surround sound were way too much for her three-year-old sensitivities.  Plus, there are scary moments when predators like skua and leopard seals come awfully close to eating the protagonist.  It was quite a long time before we were able to entice her back to the cinema.

And yet, she swore up and down for years that Happy Feet was her favorite movie.   A recent interest in penguins has inspired a quest for movies with penguins.  In fact, just about anything to do with penguins grabs her attention.  When she learned this week that Pittsburgh's hockey team claims her favorite bird as a mascot, she was all set to throw her lot in with them.  She was quite upset to learn they are the arch-rivals of my own team (Washington Capitals).  This was actually our first time watching Happy Feet since that day in the theater nearly eight years ago.  Our Girl was not disappointed.



Mumbles, an emperor penguin chick, can't sing.  This is a disaster as, at least for the lore established in the story, members of his species must match "heart songs" in order to mate.  But he sure can dance - soft-shoe tap!  Unfortunately, that's not enough to impress the rest of the flock and even his own father is ashamed of him.  His one true love, Gloria, has a beautiful voice and clearly loves him, too.  But Mumbles is blamed for a decline in fish and is banished.  He resolves to find out what really happened to the fish, which means seeking out the humans.

Happy Feet is a visually stunning movie.  All of the animals and their environment are beautifully presented.  One almost feels at times as if you could run your hand through their feathers.  The story is formulaic, though sweet and satisfying.  The music is great, mostly covers of previously released material - a jukebox musical, it's called apparently.  Highlights include a "Kiss"/"Heartbreak Hotel" mash-up sung by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, "My Way" performed in Spanish by Robin Williams and "Somebody to Love" as sung by the late, great Brittany Murphy.  A nice story about "Kiss": Prince initially wasn't going to let them use the song but once the producers showed him footage from the film, he not only relented, but offered to write a new number for the closing credits.
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10 comments:

  1. TrishaMay 11, 2014 at 10:15 PM

    I only saw this recently for the first time - I really enjoyed it. :)

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  2. Andrew LeonMay 11, 2014 at 11:29 PM

    Hmm... I came pretty close to hating this movie. I was already fairly unimpressed with it before the ending and, then, the ending happened where they come out and basically beat you over the head with the message that you've been watching the whole movie. It just seemed overly blatant to me.
    That said, I get that most people need to be beat over the head with the message of the movie, but it was very much a "preaching to the choir" movie for me in which they threw Bibles at me on top of everything else.

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    1. The Armchair SquidMay 12, 2014 at 11:40 AM

      I can appreciate that perspective and am willing to concede that plot and message are not the strengths of this film. For me, even by computer animation standards, the visuals are astonishingly vivid. I'm a sucker for the music, too. Any movie that begins and ends with kd lang singing songs from Abbey Road is already winning the game on my scorecard.

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  3. M.J. FifieldMay 12, 2014 at 1:45 AM

    My sister is a huge fan of this movie because she's a tap dancer.

    The part with the leopard seal was too scary for me. I still can't watch it.

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    1. The Armchair SquidMay 12, 2014 at 11:41 AM

      Our daughter is a tap dancer, too, which definitely adds to the appeal. I think she was more focused on the animals, though.

      The leopard seal is terrifying!

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  4. angryparsnipMay 12, 2014 at 1:51 AM

    I haven seen this movie so I can't comment on it. Never was that interested why and I don't really why.
    "Star Wars' was one of the first movies he slept through but "The Fox and the Hound' was the first movie I took him to that he really sat through and enjoyed. I have a soft place in my heart for that movie.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. The Armchair SquidMay 12, 2014 at 11:42 AM

      I loved The Fox and the Hound as a kid. Unfortunately, that's one that didn't hold up as well for me as an adult.

      Delete
  5. Stephanie FarisMay 12, 2014 at 5:54 AM

    My husband looks back with nostalgia on those days of enjoying animated movies with my stepdaughter. She's 14 now...this weekend she asked to go see "The Other Woman" with her friends! Times have changed...

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    1. The Armchair SquidMay 12, 2014 at 11:43 AM

      The teen years are still a little ways off for us but I can feel the changes coming. I'll be nostalgic before too long myself.

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