Happy Fluff - Nothing New

Rating: 6/10 (5 December 2006)

It is clear that the idea of this movie came from the "March of the Penguins" documentary. I expected more...
The movie attempts to capitalize on the cuteness of the penguin and on amazing life cycle of the Emporer Penguins. This film doesn't even really give lip service to the almost unbelievable feats performed by the Emporer Penguin in the harshest environment on earth. Then again, the story was not intended to retell the story of the penguin... This is where the film fails - the only thing original here is the penguins themselves. The animation and CG effects are top-rate but the story is unoriginal and predictable. Even the musical selections are unoriginal, although it was interesting to hear a revival of the 1980's "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash - how that song relates the life of the Emporer Penguin is anybody's guess.
This film is "Happy Fluff". The shallow attempts at dealing with real messages such as pollution and overfishing are just that - shallow. Even still the movie does attempt to make us aware of these issues and on how they affect our animal neighbors which is more than I can say about other recent animated features.
The film does have its moments and is better than some other recent animated flicks such as "Shark Tale". It was not a waste of time or money but it just did not live up to the hype. If you want the real thing see "March of the Penguins".
In summary - excellent cg - but unoriginal.