ups and downs

Rating: 3/10 (29 November 2006)

i took my 4 year old daughter to see happy feet recently. i thought it would be a cute movie about how its OK to be different. was i ever wrong. while the first part of the movie is adorable and funny, it soon goes horribly wrong.
the sexual innuendos didn't bother me in the least. while they were there, they weren't a big part of the movie. what bothered me was that it was presented (in trailers, posters and kid's meal toys) as a cute family film and is anything but.
i was disturbed by the violent turn from cute to serious. one minute the cute little penguin is dancing and cracking jokes and the next he's banging his head against the wall while he slowly goes mad. i'm sitting in the theater watching this and thinking "wtf?!". and after all of this, they try to switch back to the cute but by this point its too late.
i don't know what the film makers were thinking when they made this. they could of just gone in the "its OK to be different" direction and put up a note before the credits about protecting penguins.
i don't recommend this film to parents of small children. maybe extreme animal activists will enjoy it.