Heavy Message Bogs Down Story

Rating: Null/10 (6 December 2006)

This weekend I had the opportunity to see Warner Bros. 'Happy Feet.' I had heard nothing but positive reviews about 'Happy Feet' with little sprinkles of 'has a strong message' thrown in. To say I was excited to see this film is an understatement. After viewing the film in its entirety, I must say that I did not like the movie that much.
First, let's talk about the positive aspects of this movie. For starters, the visuals are stunning. The filmmakers obviously wanted a photo-realistic style to tell their story, and they no doubt achieved that effect. The penguins look real and the environments transport you right into Antarctica. Also, 'Happy Feet's is unlike any other animated movie I've ever seen- it's different. And that is definitely a great thing. There are too many cookie-cutter animated movies and paint by numbers story lines out there. The fact that this movie steered into new territory is definitely one of its strengths.
However, in a nutshell I really disliked this film. Why? First, the story had many weaknesses. And secondly, I felt that I was duped and the movie was lacking in every category. The movie that I thought I was going to see was nothing like what I ended up seeing. I felt like I was watching 'March of the Penguins with a Conservation Message' rather than an animated film aimed at a targeted children's audience.
The basic story is that there are penguins in Antarctica, and in order to mate they sing to each other. And by sing I mean sing. We're talking Elvis and Prince and large show-stopping numbers. So when two penguins have a son Mumbles (voiced by Elijah Wood) who is underdeveloped, looks different and is simply unable to sing at all, he is shunned by his community and sets out to prove himself to the world and to his parents. He journeys far away, makes some new friends, and discovers that he does in fact have talent- tap dancing. However, something dangerous is threatening the penguins, and it's up to Mumbles to discover what exactly is threatening them and stop it.
If that was the storyline, and Mumbles uncovers the dangers and saves the day, and the audience learns about tolerance, then the film would be fabulous and I would be writing a very different review. However, that is not how the movie steers. Instead, it starts out in one direction, then takes a turn in the last half and gets preachy and heavy. Suddenly the movie is not about Mumbles, and instead the audience is bombarded with conservation and anti-zoo messages.
Okay with the story out of the way, what about the animation? Well, in short the animation fell flat, and the characters were uninspiring. 70% of the animation was done by motion capture, causing it to feel fake and second rate. The story was largely told by music, in the spirit of the old Disney movies, however I just couldn't get into the tap dancing. And finally, it was hard to tell a difference between the penguins and for that matter I didn't care about any of the characters, besides the main character Mumbles.
In conclusion, 'Happy Feet' would have been more enjoyable if it had been a worldly movie about conservation from the beginning, or alternatively remained a story about Mumbles and his journey. However, instead the movie escalated into something big, something that children probably will not understand, with a large message. And because the story was so disappointing, it made me completely overlook the stunning visuals, which is such a shame.
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