Happy Feet
Review
by Clint Morris
Finally, Brian Henson does justice to the
veteran Muppet
himself and builds a movie around Kermit’s famous ‘Happy Feet’ song.
It’s a foot-tapping, knee-shaking puppet pop concert as “Happy feet,
I've got those happy feet. Give them a low down beat And they begin
dancing. I've got those ten little tapping toes ..” screams through the
speakers of your local multiplex.
Or not. Nope, you should never assume. If
titles really told you what the movie was about, Pulse
would’ve had some life in it, An Inconvenient Truth
would’ve encompassed news footage of Mel B and Eddie Murphy,
and White Noise
would’ve featured Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie in the cast.
Happy
Feet
isn’t so much cotton as it is cartoon. And though the feet will still
be tapping, the knees will still be shaking, and animals will be
a-singing… it’ll be penguins, not frogs on lead. But then, who wants
strings attached anyway?
The film is set in the Antarctic and
fixes on a young Penguin, Mumble (Elijah Wood), who discovers he’s the
only one among his waddling clan that doesn’t have a singing voice. He
also looks a little different to the others, and so he’s ultimately run
out of town. Whilst on a mission to find his voice – he’s more of a
tap-dancer than a singer, it seems – he stumbles upon what could be an
alien invasion.
Happy
Feet
is a marvellous looking film that took some four years to take shape.
It’s seriously one of the best-looking animated films you’ll ever see –
the backdrops are beautiful, the character detail is superb, and the
blend between toon and human (near the end of the film, a few humans
enter the picture) is textbook. Breathtaking stuff.
Unfortunately,
the groundwork isn’t as sturdy as the paint job. On the outset, it
seems to be a light and fluffy film with plenty of giggles, plenty of
awww moments and some spectacular dance sequences but then, about
mid-way through, it takes the form of an environmentally-conscious
preacher and begins bashing into our minds the merits of keeping
penguins alive (?). Considering the film set out telling the story of
an exiled penguin who was out to find his singing voice, it’s a severe
shift in tone to start going all Steven Seagal.
Having said that, there’s still a lot to
like about Feet
besides the top work of the animators. The characters are as cute as
hell – baby Mumble will steal your heart – and the voice performers are
all fantastic, particularly Robin Williams who provides the voices of
two very diverse characters. It’s also a showcase for Brittany Murphy,
who proves she has a terrific set of lungs as she belts out classics
like "Somebody to Love”. Also keep your ears peeled for the late Steve
Irwin, who voices an Elephant Seal, in his trademark tongue.
Happy
Feet
mightn’t be the grandiose family film that the U.S box office (top of
the charts for two weeks in a row – making a packet in its first
weekend) would have you assume, but it’s still a fun ride – even if it
does try and unify Babe
with An
Inconvenient Truth. Tough feat.
3 out
of 5
Happy
Feet
Australian
release: 26th December,
2006
Cast: Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany
Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman
Director: George Miller
Website: Click
here.
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