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Happy Feet (movie) - A Critical Review
- Nov 16, 2009 at 10:25 PM
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- Comments (10) Total Views (570) Everyone can see this journal post.
Just in case no one has seen this movie or is thinking about letting their children watch this movie...
We have this movie. I have watched it three times now. And the third time was really the charm for me. I pretty much can't stand this movie. It's not a kid's movie and would not pass as an adult movie.
Basic Premise:
Emperor penguins find their mates by singing. The females belt out tunes and which ever male best compliments her singing prose gets said female.
Conflict:
A well-respected couple (Norma Jean and Memphis), known for their singing prowess, has a signet (Mumble) who is a late hatcher that cannot sing but can tap dance like nobody's business. The rigid social structure of the community makes it near impossible for the talented but awkward penguin to be accepted within the community as a whole.
Sounds cute, right? Well, talk about taking a good idea and crapping all over it with too mature sub-themes and a slow moving plot. Not to mention the totally inappropriate music (remember, this was sold as a kid's movie) and really scary (and slightly disturbing) antagonists.
The opening song in this kid's movie is Kiss by Prince.
You don't have to be beautiful
to turn me on
I just need your body baby
From dusk till dawn
You don't need experience
To turn me out
You just leave it all up to me
I'm gonna show you what it's all about
Hey, I'm a big fan of Prince and I happen to like this song. What I don't like is watching this and realizing that my child is watching a movie in which a penguin is asking just what turns her on. Other songs of questionable lyrics in this movie are:
HIt me up by Gia Farrell
I know you feel it cause you checking me right
come hit me up
come hit me up
baby baby, just a little bit
baby baby, just a little more
baby baby, let me see ya
walk to me talk to me handle me right
I'll Make Love to You by Boyz to Men
I'll make love to you
Like you want me to
And I'll hold you tight
Baby all through the night
I'll make love to you
When you want me to
And I will not let go
'Till you tell me to
Oh, if only the lyrical content was the only problem with this movie. The themes in the movies were just too mature for the audience this flick was aimed at:
Daddy/Son Conflict - Common in many kid's movies but it just added to the heavy themes. Memphis feels deep guilt about his son's lack of vocal talent because when Mumble was still an egg, Memphis dropped him. Memphis also feels great shame because he cannot accept his son for who he is.
A weird fundamentalist religious feel to the movie - The community is headed by a group of elders of sorts who frown on behavior outside of the norm. Deviance is to be eliminated, questions are not to be asked and knowledge, in general, is fixed and everything else is considered a great unknown. I have read many reviews that have compared this to Christianity. The parallels seemed a little undeniable. OK, so I liked this part of the movie. =)
Environmental Message - Humans are destroying the planet and taking perfectly good animals and locking them up in zoos where they are lost and miserable for the rest of their lives. I suppose if animals thought like humans, I could give this a pass. But they don't, so this is ridiculous. That's not say there aren't abuses, blah blah blah. But this seemed so damned unnecessary.
So, we have questionable music and mature themes. Anything else? Yes! The plot seems disjointed. You're not sure where the story is headed and this doesn't make the movie interesting but boring. There is a hint of offensive stereotypes of Mexican culture (hearing Robin Williams do a "Mexican" accent is enough to offend). The antagonists in the film are downright scary. There is a scene in which a seal tries to eat Mumble. The seal is realistic looking and frightening. There is also another scene in which Mumble is surrounded by larger birds who want to eat him. I found it disturbing watching a young Mumble trying to get himself out of a scary situation like that. It simply bothered me as a parent of a toddler.
Anything right about this movie? Although it is my humble opinion that nothing really saves this movie, there are parts that are enjoyable and even delightful. Much of the music is toe-tapping and I happen to love tap dancing, so I did like the scenes in which Mumble heats up the ice with his crazy footwork. There are fast moving scenes of the penguins slipping around on the ice that are fun and a very nice underwater scene of the penguins swimming about. That particular part of the movie was quite beautiful and relaxing.
But, overall, not very good. It's not a kid's movie and because of the slow moving, disjointed plot could not pass for an adult movie (at least not a good one). I know it has won awards and has overall received positive reviews. Well, bully for them but this reviewer thinks that much of the praise is hype. I don't want my daughter seeing this movie again and I'm not about to watch it again anytime soon. I wrote this as a rant/review. I do feel better now that I have gotten this off of my chest.
Comments:
I got a totally different message. I thought the movie was about acceptance, predjudice, diversity and how we as humans need to watch what we are doing to our planet.. Yes, some of the songs lyrics can seem a bit "adult", but IMO the way they songs are used in the movie are innocent and appropriate. Kids know that animals mate and that is what it was about. If you watch the Nat Geo movie "Penguins", its the same idea, minus the toe tapping love songs. My kids loved the movie, I liked it as well and we all got its message...To accept each other for what we are.
Minimelda - Not all the themes in the movie were inappropriate. But I think they could have had a better movie without all the heavy-handed, mature themes.
I think what irks me most is that the premise of the movie is really good and has a lot of potential. They just mucked it up royally.
True, its no Finding Nemo, LOL
I think I only saw Happy Feet once, I tend to perfer the surfing penguin movie..umm... Surfs Up
I really enjoyed that movie :( but when you put it that way its a real bummer. We saw it on the big screen and all the blue and the water was soothing for me on our day out. :( gruff
Oh Finding Nemo...I LOVE that movie!
As far as kids' movies with a good message that is put together so well, it has yet to be topped. My kids watched it over and over before I actually sat and watched it all the way through myself...I laughed so much because there was so much hidden in it that was so silly...like the line "to the top of mount wannahockaloogie!" It took me a long time before I got it! LOL
DD just loves that movie. I also think it's one of the best.
I hated this movie too. The environmental/animal rights parts didn't bother me -- actually, we didn't get that far before turning it off anyway, but they wouldn't have bothered me, except for the fact that no zoo still takes penguins from the wild (they breed prodigiously in zoos as it is). Also I am sick to shit of Nicole Kidman. Does she have to be in EVERY frickin movie??
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I've seen bits and pieces of this "movie" and I agree with youre constructive critisisms. A couple things that really got me were when he was in the zoo he became so depressed he started to hallucinate to comfort himself. And then when the "scientists" or whoever brought him back to his colony his parents didn't seem to have clue as to who he was...a little peculiar. I was disencouraged to actually start from the begining.
- cherrygirl87
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