Great animation. OK story

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2007)

The family has been waiting for...oh, just about forever to see this movie. Somehow, we missed it in the theaters. But frankly, I'm kinda glad we did. I would have been upset if I'd paid a movie theater price for the family to see this. The anticipation was really high, and although the movie was good, I expected more. Over all it was a fun movie. The animation, graphics and all the effects were top notch. It gets a 10 from me for all of that.
It's all the underlying things that bothered me. Oh, I get the environmentalist agenda, and I do not disagree. I think we humans need to be a whole lot more responsible with the earth than we have been. And yes, the whole "humans are bad" theme often seen in these kinds of movies was toned down a little at the end, but not enough. I am tired of the human bashing in so many kid movies. And yes, it was present in this cute little flick. There were some mixed messages in here that could confuse the still forming minds of young children and teens.
On one hand we are force fed (for the one hundred millionth time) the almost religious mantra that "I am what I am and don't you dare make me change." On the other hand we discover (also for the hundred millionth time) that humans are the source of all evil! So if I'm supposed to be proud of who I am, accept myself for who or whatever I may be, but humans are bad and I'm human...(gulp) Yikes! I must be bad!
Huh? What's wrong with this picture?
I kept hoping to see at least one adult human turn into a good guy. When poor Lovelace has a plastic six-pack holder around his neck choking him to death, and the penguins arrive in a place where humans obviously existed at one time, I was hoping some kindly environment-friendly scientist or such would be the one to take the thing off of the little guy's neck. But no. Humans only became "good" (well, sort of) once they saw the penguins dancing.
I think a good message of taking care of the environment, showing what has been done wrong and is still being done wrong, can still be broadcast. But without villainizing the entire human race! Our children already grow up with so many negative ideals thrown at them. The fact that they are human should not be pounded into their heads as a reason for shame. Frankly, I thought that aspect was highly irresponsible of the writers/producers.
Of course, the poke at religion is a huge yaaaaaaawn. You'd think Hollywood would get tired of poking fun at people of faith. I know a lot of wrong has been done in the name of religion. ALL religions. But I think replaying it over and over. And over and over. And over and over and over and over and over...Well, you get my drift. Enough is enough. We get it. Any kind of religion with rules and traditions (namely Christianity, for that's the only faith Hollywood likes to poke fun at...you didn't see any of the evil elders with, say, turbans on their heads) is bad. Funny thing. To be a non-conformist now days you have to actually LIKE organized religion. The Hollywood crowd, with few exceptions, is the most conformist group around. Conform to their thinking or else...
And lastly, the song that the movie was advertised all over with...not at all appropriate for a movie targeting children and young teens. Hit Me Up? Please. Not a very responsible move in a society that is already at its wit's end, trying to fight teen pregnancy and STDs.
So now that I've completely obliterated the movie, I must say again that it was, overall, an enjoyable watch. lol. I won't push DH to buy it for the kids, but I'm glad we saw it.