what Mad Max/The Road Warrior was to the action/exploitation picture, Happy Feet is to the animated family/comedy/musical: Miller's back!

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2006)

Wow, was all I had to say after leaving this movie. I mention the director, George Miller, in the opening one line because it's of note, at least in my line of thinking, to notice where the bending-genre-conventions comes from for Happy Feet. We have seen this, to be sure, in the Babe pictures, where a pig went to great lengths to show that he was more than what his environment defined himself as. But there's even the sense of the outsider coming to save the day, against all odds, ala Mad Max in those crazy Australian films. And, like all of those previous works, Happy Feet actually works, very well, and not just for one set. Going into it maybe my expectations weren't too high, despite seeing Miller's name on the credits- his first directing a practically all-animated (computer no less, in a time where it's as common as bugs in a tree stump)- because seeing commercials I thought it would just be another cute kids movie. It also has penguins, which I thought would be sort of appealing, and the possibility that Robin Williams might finally get some good voice time in more than one role. Boy does he ever, but the film has much more for its whole audience, including even some political commentary amid the wild comedy and set pieces.
What I ended up getting was some kind of bizarre, unique hybrid of the central concept of Dumbo (the loner cast-aside from his world, has to use his individuality, likely an influence of the Babe pictures), the jukebox mania of something akin to Moulin Rouge, the facts and environment of March of the Penguins (to be sure, as one can't separate one without the other), and even current events. We get the story of Mumble (Babe voice EG Daily, and Elijah Wood), who is born from an Elvis impresario (Hugh Jackman) and a supportive mother (Nicole Kidman), in a world where all the penguins sing, not just for mating but for some kind of right to live and hunt for fish. Mumble, however, can only dance, fantastically (in style via Savion Glover behind the scenes), but it doesn't sit well with Noah (Hugo Weaving), head of the elder penguins. He's first cast out by his fellow penguins for not fitting in, and being a terrible singer. He meets up with outsider penguins (headed by Ramon, voice by Williams, in one of the roles), and tries to appeal back to the group of penguins- knowing that aliens are involved somewhere. But when he's rejected again, even more harshly, his journey to find the aliens goes on, which leads to...
Oh, what's the use. To go on about the plot would be fruitless, but you might get the idea from reading this how silly the movie sounds- at first. But I think Miller and his team are going for a smart ridiculous spirit, one that is actually successfully irreverent for all ages, which is one of the toughest things that any filmmaker can try for. Even tougher is to see Robin Williams tackle roles and actually succeed comically. But it's his best, most rip-roaringly hilarious (and I don't use the former term lightly) performance since Aladdin. He goes between a solemn narrator, Ramon the penguin, and Lovelace, the possible link to everything with the 'aliens'. The musical side of things could be a challenge too, as it is in the Moulin Rouge mode of not being at all original-songs, but done in an extreme, over-the-top manner with the visuals. Imagine dozens and dozens of penguins singing "Somebody to Love" by Queen, sounds risky, but it actually works, well. In fact, Happy Feet does what Moulin Rouge did better than that film actually went for- it's a pop-culture shake-up for characters who see humans as aliens, most especially due to a lack of food.
But then there's even the touch of political commentary, which is most surprising. It would be one thing to have an over the top fantasy comedy with bits of romance thrown in (and there's even some genre-breaking with what ends up between Mumble and Gloria), but it's another to be making a kind of underlying point to it all that while lost on the kids won't be lost to some in the audience. This is even something that goes back to the Road Warrior, only here it's perhaps not as explicit- one could read into the 'leader' penguins who cast out Mumble with his 'outsider' friends who are not at all like the others, or the significance when Mumble finally comes back from his self-imposed mission, as being like the now- and the control over what the fish does to the group. But that's only a side-bar- however interesting- for what's really appealing about Happy Feet. It's unexpectedly, even outrageously in its silly way, funny, and it's based totally on the characters, and building on it how ridiculous- yet within the logic of the picture believable- how singing/dancing penguins can be in this world.
Too often, especially in 2006, the slew of computer-animated movies for kids that just don't seem appealing. Granted, I'm not a tot anymore, but just on the level of anything in the subject matter being anything more than 'hey, they're animals, they make stupid jokes, its worth it' is lost on me. Happy Feet stands above all the other animated pictures of this year, including Pixar's work, by delivering truly successfully excitement and absurdity in equal measure, while not doing so to a lower common denominator. I can't wait to recommend this to most of the people I know, and they're not even kids. Miller- welcome to the 21st century!