Fun Loving Families: Watch this now!

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2007)

Extremely adept animated musical-comedy continuing to ride the adorable penguin wave of popularity proved masterful when compared against it's obnoxious, tiresome, and relentless add campaign that had turned so many adults away merely from previews. Not surprisingly, the movie will still have it's share of nay-sayers ridiculing an excessive cutistry (yes I made that word up, as I sometimes deem appropriate!) whirling around the singing chorus of birds for lengthy periods of time in a barren Antarctica... but in that ignorant cynicism, will have missed so much more that the movie has to offer. A dazzling array of content breezes through in the 109 minute run time that, whenever feeling overlong in it's song and dance sequences, balances out splendidly with delightful humor (complete with superb back-chatter), sincere romance, spectacular action sequences, and quite the little adventure of a plot thrown in with all of it's understated social, moral and religious ramifications shining through in a very natural, unpretentious way.
Obviously for a movie that sold itself on musical numbers, Happy Feet had to deliver, and throughout the celebratory routines the music stays at it's utmost crowd-pleasing best. The producers knew what kind of event they wanted to induce for parents and their children when selecting the infectious songs that often combine to form supremely entertaining medley's that wisely pay ode to pop radio in a way that will engage viewers. It is the constant emphasis on Fun that prevents these sequences from becoming stale, often animated in a completely complimentary manner to the upbeat rhythms. For all this talk of the main uniform locale keeping aesthetics to a minimal variance, the animation team does an outstanding job at diversifying and beautifying the icy tundra in ways that keep each scene sacred and varied in it's humble homage to Earth's pristine state. Conecentrating on one specific set of components has obviously let the animators refine the penguins themselves to a charming physicality, no greater exemplified then in our lead Mumble "Happy Feet" himself and his infectious tapping.
Finally credit must me given to the man responsible for elevating a near-ridiculous concept into the year's best family animated feature. George Miller has truly come full circle in his quest as a director, having branched out through the Road Warrior trilogy starting in the late 70's only to find himself receiving an Oscar for best animated film of 2006 for an opus on singing and dancing penguins. That, is the mark of a diversified filmmaker.