A penguin named Mumble learns to dance to the beat of his own drum in Happy Feet, but is this dancing penguin soulful enough to win over audiences? Find out with our review right here!
Happy Feet - Finding Your Heart Song
Little Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) isn't like the rest of his Emperor penguin friends and family. As an Emperor penguin, Mumble is supposed to look deep inside and find his "heart song", a tune that he will sing throughout his life and eventually use to find his mate by matching his song with his soulmate's heart song. It's how his parents met and it's how all his ancestors before him met - but poor Mumble can't find his heart song. He's a horrible singer but has tapped into a rhythm of his own... he can dance like no one's business! But instead of admiring Mumble's unique talent, he is made fun of and made to feel bad about himself by the other Emperor penguins. Even his crush, Gloria (voiced by Brittany Murphy) is mean to him.
Happy Feet - Be the Best You Can Be
Feeling like he's let down his parents and the rest of the Emperor penguin colony, Mumble wanders off with his new Adelie penguin friends. They're shorter, funkier and really dig Mumble's moves. They teach him that it's hip to dance and are actually jealous of his charisma! Mumble eventually gains enough confidence to head back to his colony and show them that he's comfortable in his own skin. Unfortunately, despite winning people over with his funky feet, the elders still blame him and his lack of a heart song for the shortage of food! Now Mumble needs to solve the food shortage mystery to convince everyone he's not responsible.
Happy Feet - Melting Movie
It's when Mumble is forced to head out and solve the problem of the food shortage that the movie really loses steam. Up until this point, the flick is cute and catchy with singing and dancing and has a good message about acceptance and learning who you really are. Suddenly you're thrown a curveball about ecology and human interference with wildlife that doesn't really connect to the rest of the story. It's almost as though they tried to stick two different movies together with nothing but a piece of tape.
Happy Feet - DVD Features
If you didn't get enough of Mumble and his penguin pals the first time around, get ready to get another dose of these cute critters. The Happy Feet DVD hits stores on March 27, 2007 and it includes new scenes from the movie, music videos for some of the flicks featured tunes, a dance lesson from famed tapper, Savion Glover, and much more!
Happy Feet - Bottom Line
Happy Feet has its happy moments, but ultimately its message becomes far too complicated to make it a worthwhile flick. A movie can only get by on singing, dancing penguins for so long before it needs to wrap up - and Happy Feet pushes that boundary too far. The addition of a science lesson about over-fishing in Antarctica is so out of place that even the enjoyable parts of the beginning of the film are forgotten. If you're in the mood for cute penguins, rent March of the Penguins - it's a much better film for kids and adults alike.
Happy Feet Rating:
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