The humble penguin has seen somewhat of a cinematic vitalisation in recent years, with first March of the Penguins (best to forget Bob Saget’s ill-advised parody) and now Happy Feet indulging our passion for the comedic sphenisciformes. Oh that’s right, I can look things up! Not just a pretty face, my friends. Hailing from Australian animation studio Animal Logic on behalf of Warner Bros., Happy Feet attempts to cash in on the scientifically-established awesomeness of the penguin species, while delivering a lighthearted dose of family-flavoured fun.
The paper-thin plot concerns baby penguin Mumble, cursed with an inability to sing (and thus woo a potential mate - for in a surreal twist, it seems penguins attract partners by breaking out into renditions of contemporary pop songs), but blessed with the gift of dance. Cast out from his clan for his rogue Michael Flatley impersonations, Mumble falls in with a troupe of vaguely racist Hispanic stereotypes who decide that tap-dancing is actually quite cool, and sets out on a quest to a) discover where all the fish have gone (hint: given the film’s sledgehammer attempt at environmentalism, it’s a safe bet humans will be involved), and b) prove to his family and friends that dancing is just as acceptable as singing, so he can c) win over his love interest with all the emotional investment of a lemon. There’s some hopelessly unfocused moralising in there as well about being true to your self and some such, but it gets a bit lost under the barrage of nothing-much-happening that threatens to overwhelm the film.
First impressions are good. The disc opens with an amusing trailer for CGI stablemate The Ant Bully (which, unfortunately, sucked) and features some colourful animated menus. The opening few minutes, however, quickly dispel any hopes of a visual feast à la Monsters, Inc. These penguins are frankly creepy, beady red eyes poking out from beneath a shiny, poorly textured carapace. It soon becomes apparent that we are not dealing with master animators, which is a shame as some of the Antarctic landscapes on display are genuinely stunning. The jarring schism between character and environment frequently prevents any immersion in the animated universe.
The cast, despite being liberally sprinkled with star names, is entirely underwhelming. Elijah Wood does his earnest average-est as Mumble and Brittany Murphy is her usual awful self as his girlfriend Gloria, although she does nab one of the best lines, calling Mumble a “stupid hippity-hoppity fool”, an insult I shall be appropriating from now on. Elsewhere, Hugh Jackman channels an extremely redneck Elvis as Mumble’s father, while Robin Williams delivers the usual schtick in two separate roles. Others phoning in their performance include Nicole Kidman as Mumble’s mother, and Hugo Weaving as the only real antagonist of the piece Noah. The only real highlight is Anthony LaPaglia in a cameo, replete with ridiculously overplayed Brooklyn accent, as a gull who claims to have been abducted by aliens.
The film’s soundtrack is surprisingly competent, with a diverse score from composer John Powell interspersed with an array of pop songs, from Prince’s ‘Kiss’ to Queen’s ‘Somebody to Love’, the latter thankfully surviving a cringeworthy rendition by Brittany Murphy. The scenes featuring the male penguins’ duelling vocals during mating are well handled, and it’s almost enough for a bit of toe-tapping fun of your own. But, ultimately, it’s just not good enough. Sadly, the preponderance of affordable CGI equipment in this day and age has, rather than attracted a new generation of storytellers in the same league as Pixar and Dreamworks, instead allowed old rope to be dressed up as… er… new rope. With one or two notable exceptions (eg. Monster House), what these filmmakers fail to realise is that pandering to the lowest common denominator with pretty graphics is no substitute for actual meaningful content. As a result, Happy Feet ends up feeling like a third rate knock-off.
Before concluding, I should mention Happy Feet’s one true stroke of brilliance. Approaching the movie’s close, Mumble finds himself trapped in a wildlife park, gawked at by spectators. However, what stuck out for me is that the droves of humans are in fact real actors, juxtaposed with the animated penguins. This is, I believe, a first for CGI family animation, and took me off guard. It’s an elegant alternative to the preferred method of rendering human characters in a cartoon fashion, and deserves a doff of the cap.
DVD info
The disc reviewed is the region two single disc edition; available in region one are both fullscreen and widescreen single disc editions. The feature running time is 1 hour and 34 minutes, and is presented in 2.35:1 picture ratio and Dolby 5.1 audio. Subtitles and language tracks available are English, French and Spanish.
Extras
It can be a real treat to go properly behind the scenes on a CGI movie, but unfortunately Happy Feet denies us the opportunity. Instead the disc offers up a couple of deleted scenes (one, featuring Steve Irwin’s voice, introduced by scary director George Miller, who looks as if he can kill a man with a single glance), two features on the tap choreography of Savion Glover - infinitely more impressive in person than when communicated via the medium of penguin - a generic ten-minute featurette and a look at Brittany Murphy urinating on Queen’s classic track. Pretty threadbare, and although Glover’s dancing is certainly impressive these extras don’t really add much to the package.
The 411: Happy Feet fails to deliver for even the most ardent penguin fetishist. Lightweight as a feather (zing!), your only real excuse for buying this DVD is if you are under twelve.
