Happy Feet (Franchise)

**Happy Feet** was a two-story franchise of animated films that took place in Antarctica in 2006 and 2011 respectively.

## Blurb

Two years after the events of Finding Nemo, we get a glimpse of animal life at the South Pole, where emperor penguins live with advanced colonies of families and complex social structures. One of the main themes of the first film is how they learn to not have to rely on myths and superstition just for everyday life, as well as accepting the fact that some people can be born differently than others but still have a place in society.

## Happy Feet (2006)

Norma Jean, a female penguin, falls for Memphis, a male penguin and they become mates. They lay an egg, which is left in Memphis' care, while Norma Jean leaves with the other females to fish. While the males struggle through the harsh winter, Memphis briefly drops the egg. As a result, their son, Mumble, is unable to sing, but he can tap dance instead. Nevertheless, he is enamored with Gloria, a female penguin who is regarded as the most talented of her age. One day, Mumble encounters a group of hostile skua, with a leader who is tagged with a yellow band, which he says is from an alien abduction. Mumble narrowly escapes the hungry birds by falling into a crevice.

Now a young adult, Mumble is frequently ridiculed by the elders. After escaping from a leopard seal attack, Mumble befriends a group of Adelie penguins called "the Amigos", who embrace Mumble's dance moves and assimilate him into their group. After seeing a hidden human excavator in an avalanche, they opt to ask Lovelace, a rockhopper penguin, about its origin. Lovelace has the plastic rings of a six pack entangled around his neck, which he claims have been bestowed upon him by mystic beings.

For the emperor penguins, it is mating season and Gloria is the center of attention. Ramón, one of the Amigos, attempts to help Mumble win her affection by singing a Spanish version of "My Way", with Mumble lip syncing, but the plan fails, and Gloria finds it embarrassing. In desperation, Mumble begins tap dancing in synch with her song. She falls for him and the youthful penguins join in for singing and dancing to "Boogie Wonderland". The elders are appalled by Mumble's conduct, which they see as the reason for their lean fishing season. Memphis begs Mumble to stop dancing, for his own sake, but when Mumble refuses, he is exiled, prompting him to curse revenge on the elders for their blind belief.

Mumble and the Amigos return to Lovelace, only to find him being choked by the plastic rings. Lovelace confesses they were snagged on him while swimming off the forbidden shores, beyond the land of the elephant seals. Not long into their journey, they are met by Gloria, who wishes to join with Mumble as his mate. Fearing for her safety, he ridicules Gloria, driving her away.

At the forbidden shore, the group finds a fishing boat. Mumble pursues it solo to the brink of exhaustion. He is eventually washed up on the shore of Australia, where he is rescued and kept at Marine World with Magellanic penguins. After a long and secluded confinement in addition to fruitlessly trying to communicate with the humans, he nearly succumbs to madness. When a girl attempts to interact with Mumble by tapping the glass, he starts dancing, which attracts a large crowd. He is released back into the wild, with a tracking device attached to his back. He returns to his colony and challenges the will of the elders. Memphis reconciles with him, just as a research team arrives, proving the claims of the existence of "aliens" to be true. The whole of the colony, even Noah the leader of the elders, engages in dance.

The research team returns their expedition footage, prompting a worldwide debate. The governments realize they are overfishing, leading to the banning of all Antarctic fishing. At this, the emperor penguins and the Amigos celebrate.

## Happy Feet Two (2011)

Five years later, Erik, son of the penguins Mumble and Gloria, is unable to dance like the other penguins. Erik and his two best friends, Bodicea and Atticus, follow Ramón to Adélie-Land and find that Adélie-Land has been ruled by a puffin con artist named the Mighty Sven, who survived the loss of his native fishing grounds due to his "miraculous" ability to fly and hired Lovelace the Rockhopper as his partner in-crime. Sven and Lovelace choose Erik to stop the apocalypse of Antarctica, causing the other penguins to deem him as a demigod. They then proceed to tell the others that they were saved by humans. The two eventually flee (under Sven's mistaken assumption that the humans were going to eat them) and end up on Antarctica, where Sven performs his first miracle by revealing moss to the local penguins. Sven uses his power of "Sven Think" to help Ramón find a mate. Ramón instantly falls in love with Carmen, another Adélie penguin who is uninterested. Mumble follows the chicks' footprints to Adélie-Land and orders them to return to Emperor-Land, but they refuse. Sven sends Erik back to Emperor-Land with Mumble.

Meanwhile, a couple of krill are in the midst of a swarm. Will is an adventurous and existentialist krill determined to discover what lies beyond the swarm. His implied partner, Bill, reluctantly follows him to ensure his safety. Once separated from the swarm, Will and Bill realize that krill are at the bottom of the food chain, created to be eaten. Inspired, Will ventures out to evolve and "move up the food chain" by eating a real creature instead of being eaten.

Mumble tells Erik that he is unique to the world and that he will someday find his calling, but Erik is oblivious. While trying to cross a perilous ice bridge, the penguins encounter Elephant Seal Bryan the Beach Master and his two young sons, who refuse to let the penguins pass. Suddenly the ice gives away and Bryan is trapped in a deep crevice below the ice. Mumble sets out to free Bryan by luring a leopard seal to chase him down. Seeking acceptance from Erik, Mumble is devastated to learn Erik attributed the feat of courage to Sven Think. Bryan returns to the southern elephant seal beach.

When the penguins return to Emperor-Land they discover that a large iceberg has trapped the emperor penguin population below large walls of ice. The Amigos and the Adélie penguins to bring fish to the doomed Emperor penguins. Meanwhile, Mumble, Erik and Atticus deliver meager supplies of fish to the trapped penguins. Erik attempts to deliver a fish to Gloria by flying and nearly tossing himself over the edge of the iceberg. Mumble scolds Erik for his beliefs, saying that no penguin can fly and that none of the emperor penguins will be able to escape. Gloria sends Mumble off to hunt for fish, calming Erik and the rest of the hysterical Emperor-Land. In the process, Bill becomes inspired to create another swarm of krill but Will refuses, preferring to adhere to his new predator lifestyle.

The next morning, a large flock of skua attack the trapped Emperor-Land. Noah the Elder encourages the penguins to stand up to the birds through perseverance and unity. When all hope seems lost, Bo returns with the entire Adélie-Land, led by Sven, to aid the trapped emperor penguins. Sven orchestrates a cooperative effort to feed the trapped emperor penguins through hunting and bringing back a flow of fish from the sea. Meanwhile, Will becomes increasingly agitated with Bill's behavior and leaves him into the Adélie feeding swarm, to join "fellow predators". In the process he is attached to a fish carried by Sven and down into the trapped Emperor-Land.

The humans who saved Sven and Lovelace come to Antarctica again to help the penguins find a way out. However, a blizzard approaches and causes the humans to flee and not return. Erik urges Sven to teach the penguins how to fly, but Sven reveals that he is not a penguin but a Tufted puffin. Mumble, after watching snow fall into a crevice between chunks of iceberg, begins to tap-dance on the ice and lead the Adélie penguins in a dance to force snow between the ice and weaken it. The plan works until several chunks break loose, sending Bo, Atticus, and a portion of the Adélies as well as several chinstrap, little blue and Magellanic penguins into the doomed crevice. Erik and Lovelace tumble towards the edge, and Mumble grabs the thread from Lovelace's vest. The thread snaps and Lovelace falls on Sven. Mumble and the Amigos pull on the thread that Erik is holding onto and pull him up but Mumble injures his foot, unable to dance and lead the Adélies. Ramón realizes Carmen is trapped below and, risking his own life, jumps off the iceberg to be with her and professes their love to each other. Sven becomes aware of the dancing and proves himself to be a worthy dancer despite public outcry against him. He leads the remaining Adélies in dance while Erik and Mumble venture off to the elephant seal beach. Meanwhile, Will went back in search of Bill and reunited with all others.

Mumble and Erik arrive at Elephant Seal Beach where Bryan is in the middle of a fight of dominance between another large male. Mumble pleads to the elephant seals to help free the emperor penguins. Hesitant to return a favor at such a pivotal time of the year, Bryan declines. Discovering his talent in the form of an operatic voice, Erik commends Mumble for his bravery and lectures Bryan for his lack of kindness. The elephant seals travel en-masse to Emperor-Land. The emperor penguins and the seals begin slamming the ice to the beat of Queen's song Under Pressure, joined by Will, Bill, their krill swarm, the Amigos, Carmen, Lovelace and the newly-reformed Sven. Finally, the iceberg crumbles enough for the emperor penguins to climb out of the crevice and reunite with their families.