Freshly hatched Mumble had a case of birth-vertigo. They almost had to put him down.
Happy Feet (2006) is a joyful animated musical involving many penguins on one side, and the shared threat of rapacious hunger of humanity on the other, seasoned with the lust for power shrouded in religion. Mumble is a fresh-born Emperor penguin, a species of tall, flightless marine bird in which singing ability confers status.
Mumble can’t sing; for him, it’s the unsettling squawk. The best he can do is shuffle his feet.
One day, despondent, he becomes separated from the colony, and nearly lunch for a threat-spewing sea leopard, but encounters a gang of five of Adelie penguins. They are short, wise-cracking marine birds who are happy to help him out of his jam of becoming jam for the sea leopard. In return, he begins teaching the gang to dance, a skill that puts the gang in good stead with their own colony, especially after the Adelie guru, Lovelace, blesses the skill.
But all penguins are facing starvation, and Mumble, without a mate, decides to investigate. He finds the fish being harvested by soulless human ships, and he and the gang decide to ask Lovelace for help. To keep things short, Mumble ends up in captivity.
Foot-shuffling captivity.
Is this a masterpiece? Not quite, but it’s damn good. You’ll root for the good guys, but some of the bad guys are driven by their nature, such as the sea leopard, and other bad guys aren’t really as driven as they’d have to be for this to rise to another level.
But it’s worth a watch, especially by the kids. Very good, I’d say.
