tap your flippers for this penguin piece of fun

Rating: 7/10 (18 August 2008)

'Happy Feet' is a bit of a one joke short stretched out to feature length, but you can't really complain when it is done so well. Fun, cute, and full of music (Elvis, Prince, Aretha, you name it), this tale of a penguin who doesn't fit in because he can't sing his heart song (but can tap a tune with his feet like nobody) has a fit of the cutes and almost comes to a halt until the appearance of some funky boogie-ing birds and a sojourn away from the land of ice.
It's minor, but it has some lovely animation, high production values, and a few memorable characters (Memphis, the dad penguin, Mumble, the tap dancer, and Lovelace, the guru). And I really laughed at the appearance of Mumble, who bore more than a passing resemblance to LOTR's Frodo (and of course, Mumble is voiced by Frodo himself, Elijah Wood).