Happy Feet should have been left out in the cold

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2007)

The story lacked development and direction, ultimately leaving me scratching my head to exactly how the conclusion, and many other details in the plot, came about. Most of the characters lacked development and depth, which led me to have little to no empathy for our protagonist and his cohorts. Instead, these staples for any good movie were replaced with a cute animated tap dancing penguin, a few cheap laughs courtesy of a washed up Robin Williams, and elaborate song and dance numbers that featured a wide variety of recognizable pop songs. And on top of that, the filmmakers had the audacity to shamelessly preach their politics as if that excuses it for its shortcomings. And that's not a slam against the liberal ideas of this movie that many have complained about because be they liberal or conservative, sloppily tacking on your ideas about pollution and the environment at the end of your already underdeveloped film doesn't qualify as a meaningful message, even if your target audience is ten and under.
Pixar has made it abundantly clear that family films don't have to substitute style for substance. Their competitors need to learn this as well.