I'm not sure how I feel about this

Rating: 6/10 (16 December 2006)

Two penguins Norma Jean (voiced by Nicole Kidman) and Dallas (Hugh Jackman) give birth to a baby called Mumble (Elijah Wood). According to this movie the penguins sing constantly (from 1950s to present day music) but Mumbles can't sing...but he CAN dance. However the tribal elders said his singing is evil and the reason their fish supply is dwindling, and he is banished.
I could go on but basically you've seen this before...only with human beings. It's another story telling children that it's OK to be different and this one has an environmental message with it. There's nothing wrong with that (the kids in my audience were dead silent and seemed to love this) but I was unimpressed. The CGI was incredible, the songs were good and the voices matched the characters completely...but I didn't know how to take this movie. I mean when a bunch of penguin kids started singing "In My Room" by the Beach Boys i didn't know how to respond. It wasn't funny, it wasn't cute, it was just...weird.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!! There are also sequences where the penguins are attacked by other animals which might disturb real young kids. And Mumbles ends up in a zoo towards the end...and begins to go crazy. THAT'S for kids???? I found it disturbing and I'm an adult! END OF SPOILERS!!!!
It does all end on a very happy but totally unbelievable note--even for a kids movie that end was pushing it. So I (sort of) liked it but it all left me kind of cold (no pun intended) and the movie slams you in the face with its message again and again. When you see a whole colony of penguins break-dancing and it's not funny (my audience was dead silent) something is wrong. The only real humor here was a bunch of penguins (with Spanish accents) which befriend Mumbles--they were absolutely hysterical.
So kids will probably love this but adults should use caution. Some adult couples walked out of this when I saw it! I can only give it a 6--but put that rating higher if you're seeing it with kids.