If you can ignore some plot holes and certain undertones, it's a fun movie to watch!

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2006)

It's hard to say who the movie was made for. I just saw the movie and definitely enjoyed it, as did my wife and kids. However, the movie doesn't seem to be made for either kids or adults, but gets caught somewhere in between. I felt like it was missing something.
From a kids' perspective, it has plenty of cute penguins doing funny things. It has great dance numbers and fun music and cool graphics that kids will recognize. Kids will even be able to follow Mumble's journey and understand what is happening to him. They stay interested. Although it may have been too long for them (my kids and others in the theater started to get ancy about 3/4's into the movie.) Kids should be able to pick up on the message of being different is OK and negative effects of pollution. So, looking through a child's eyes, a very good movie.
For an adult looking through a child's eyes, it is still a very good movie. Many adults will recognize the songs and artists (as well as voices) and laugh at most of the jokes. They aren't many jokes since they are mainly replaced by song and dance numbers. Again, visual effects are spectacular and the characters are great and yet familiar. So, if your idea of entertainment (at least while watching this movie) is to not think too much, ignore undertones on politics and religion and enjoy what's on the surface, then you'll love this movie.
For an adult looking through an adult's eyes, we run into problems. There are numerous messages about foreigners, traditionalist religion, acceptance, human indifference to nature, etc..., which the movie doesn't go far enough on any of these topics to make any real argument. It's like they just stated their opinion without evidence or logical argument and moved on. They have scenes here and there with the relevant symbolism, mostly biased in one way or another, and you're left wondering why the symbolism was even there at all. It was obviously put there intentionally. There may have been deleted scenes that would have helped. However, that wasn't the purpose and the plot and themes fall short. Simply by extending the movie another 45 minutes with some thought provoking explanations, without the biases, this could have been a very good movie for adults wanting more.
It seemed to be two movies mixed into one. As a kids' movie, great job. If you analyze the plot and the messages it tries to send (and it obviously tries to), then it falls short. Since movies are all about entertainment, and more people will find this movie entertaining than not, it does its job. Should this be considered a great movie? No. Does the plot have holes? Yes. Is it a great kids movie? Yes. Was it fun to watch and did I enjoy it? Yes. I hope others do to.