Time is not on this film's side (at least for me)

Rating: 7/10 (11 May 2008)

Ever have one of those moments when you see a movie that's been getting a lot of attention and you're overwhelmed by it, only to revisit it on video and realize it's not all that great? Well, Happy Feet is one of those movies. When I saw it in theaters three weeks after it opened, I loved it. I thought the inclusion of the environmental stuff was as genius as the music and dancing.
I just finished watching the movie in its entirety for the first time since then, and time hasn't been kind to it. Not that I'm saying it's dated, since we're still dealing with global warming and stuff. I'm saying that this film could have used less of the environmentalism and more of the fairy tale whimsy that was prevalent during the first third. Hell, as I was watching the damn thing, I was imagining this story done in the style of Leo Lionni and his brilliant, albeit sadly overlooked, book Tico and the Golden Wings. (Maybe they should have had a wishingpenguin?) Don't get me completely wrong, it still has great music and terrific dancing, but George (Mad Max) Miller really missed the mark here. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.