A realistic and stunning film with a valuable environmental message

Rating: 8/10 (13 September 2013)

I first saw this film with a staff member from my former care home when it came out in 2006 and we both enjoyed it. I watched this again today when I rented it after having already rented 'Happy Feet Two,' which is just as good with some parts better than others.
The penguins, birds, leopard seal, elephant seals, killer whales and backgrounds were realistically modelled and rendered with true-to-life colours. Although the dark scene during 'Somebody To Love' was the least detailed part of the film, it was saved by the beautiful green lighting that resembled the Northern Lights, the lovely singing and the amazing choreography, particularly from Mumble. While he is unable to sing, he can still tap dance very well. He and Gloria were cute as children while Ramón and his Amigos were amusing. Besides 'Somebody To Love,' my favourite musical numbers by the penguins were 'Kiss/Let's Talk About Sex (which was changed to something else to make it more family friendly),' 'Boogie Wonderland,' 'If You Leave Me Now' and 'I Wish.' Further to Ramon and his amigos, it was funny when one of them called the leopard seal, "rubber butt" and also when they tried to run away from him in a way that played with the slow motion cliché. Another cliché that was played with was 'liar revealed' when Mumble was mouthing to Ramon's Spanish version of 'My Way' in order to impress Gloria. This film has some stunning and thrilling scenes such as Mumble jumping out of the water and saying, "Watcha waiting for?" (which made me think he initially sang Gwen Stefani's 'What You Waiting For) thus leading to him and the other penguins swimming underwater to the Beach Boy's wonderfully harmonious and underrated 'Do It Again;' the sliding scene with Mumble and the Amigos albeit causing an apparent avalanche; Mumble and the Amigos being flipped and nearly eaten by two killer whales; and the inclusion of live action elements, especially zoo visitors watching Mumble dancing. I loved Mumble's interpretation of them as aliens and his own language as 'plain penguin' as opposed to 'plain English' due to the visitors interpreting his plea to stop overfishing as squawks. The environmental message of not overfishing and polluting the Antarctic are valuable but Lovelace being choked by the six-pack ring may be distressing for very young children and certain parts of the film may be too daunting for them. They may also find the scene of Mumble being washed up on the beach and put in captivity confusing and I can actually remember a child asking his/her parents if Mumble was dead at the cinema. As an adult, I found the elephant seals confusing because I couldn't tell which was which and I saw that they had similar-sounding names in the end credits. I also found the ending rather abrupt and baby Erik, who has a larger role in the sequel, was hard to spot.
In spite of the abrupt ending and certain parts being distressing, confusing and daunting for very young children, this film deserves an 8/10 for realistic visuals, beautiful musical numbers, impeccable choreography and a valuable environmental message.