Happy Feet (DVD)

I have wanted to see Happy Feet from the time I first saw a clip of it, but never managed to see it at a cinema. Some five months after its UK release, I finally ordered the DVD and it arrived from Amazon earlier this week. I watched the film – then all the extras – then the film again.

Here is what I thought of it…

FILM

The Story

Memphis and Norma Jean are two penguins expecting a baby. ...
...cannot sing. Instead, he has Happy Feet, which make him an impressive tap dancer. But his community doesn’t want a penguin who can dance, so he is rejected and leaves his home.

On his travels, he meets a group of Hispanic penguins who are much more easy going and are happy to accept him for what he is. During his adventures, he realises the penguins are suffering through lack of fish, so tries to find the ‘Aliens’ (humans) to see if ... more

I have wanted to see Happy Feet from the time I first saw a clip of it, but never managed to see it at a cinema. Some five months after its UK release, I finally ordered the DVD and it arrived from Amazon earlier this week. I watched the film – then all the extras – then the film again.

Here is what I thought of it…

FILM

The Story

Memphis and Norma Jean are two penguins expecting a baby. But when little Mumble hatches from the egg, he is not quite what they were expecting. Penguins attract their mate by singing a heart song, but Mumble cannot sing. Instead, he has Happy Feet, which make him an impressive tap dancer. But his community doesn’t want a penguin who can dance, so he is rejected and leaves his home.

On his travels, he meets a group of Hispanic penguins who are much more easy going and are happy to accept him for what he is. During his adventures, he realises the penguins are suffering through lack of fish, so tries to find the ‘Aliens’ (humans) to see if he can help rectify the situation.

My Thoughts

The film has a very impressive cast with the main parts being taken by Elijah Wood (Mumble), Hugh Jackman (Memphis), Nicole Kidman (Norma Jean), Brittany Murphy (Gloria) and Robin Williams playing four roles. Other, smaller parts are voiced by Miriam Margolyes, Hugo Weaving, Anthony LaPaglia, Steve Irwin and Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders.

Despite this amazing list of stars, the only voices I recognised were Robin Williams and Nicole Kidman. I think this is a testament to how absorbing the film is, as it can be distracting to the enjoyment of the film, if you are constantly thinking “Oh, that’s so-and-so” instead of getting into the story.

The characters are very good and usually easy to recognise, which is important when many of the penguins look almost identical to one another. They are distinguished by their accents most of the time. Memphis is an Elvis penguin, while Norma Jean is a Marilyn Monroe penguin. They still look like penguins – no quiffs or pouting red lips – but their accents and voices are obviously based on the stars.

There are many interesting themes in the film and important messages, though none are hammered home; they are put across very well. I was especially pleased to see the celebration of difference is stressed here. Mumble does not conform to how a penguin should be – i.e. he can’t sing, he dances. This is shown to be unimportant. Despite his inability to sing, he proves he can achieve great things, find love, make friends and has his own talent in dancing.

This is a great message for children to grasp. I know my own four kids each have their particular talents, each one as valid as the other. Whether a child is gifted in sport, art, drama or singing, they should be encouraged to develop it and admired.

My youngest daughter is undergoing various assessments at the moment and is probably on the autistic spectrum, with Aspergers Syndrome. A film which shows her a penguin can be different, but still worthy, is one which will hopefully improve her own confidence and self-esteem.

There is also a strong environmental message. Over-fishing and global warming are damaging nature and our planet. The animals are suffering and it is usually the fault of humans. Happy Feet has the penguins as the sympathetic characters, with the humans seen as outsiders – even to the extent of referring to them as ‘aliens’ – so it is easy to see the point of view of the penguins here.

But, this does not mean the film is heavy or preachy. It is essentially good old family fun. There are sad moments, but overall, it is an upbeat movie and one that has a happy ending. Unlike the many animal films I watched as a child (Bambi, Dumbo, Escape from the Dark, Watership Down) and cried my eyes out at, Happy Feet has no deaths either.

There are sections where the penguins seem to be in danger, but these become quite cartoony and a potentially life-threatening leap off a high cliff is transformed into a fast, exciting, rollercoaster ride to adventure. This is exciting to watch and any fear a young viewer may have is soon dissipated.

It is also educational and informative. The penguins themselves look realistic, as do the settings. We learn how penguins mate and live, but this is approached in a great way. The narrator informs us that Mumble’s “mom and dad met in the usual way. The song became love and love became the egg.” When Tom Jones’ song Kiss is used, the penguin changes the lyric to “Let’s talk about eggs, baby” – a very clever way of side-stepping the awkward topic of sex, while still being accurate.

Similarly, the film shows that penguins are pursued by birds and whales, but in Happy Feet, they always escape. We also learn that it is the mother penguins that go away to fish for their young, while the father penguin stays at home and minds the egg. I felt this was both accurate and a good message. It is okay for mums to work and dads to be house-husbands. Again, this might reassure a child whose parents fulfil these roles.

The film is also a musical. There are many great songs in it and most of them are well-known. I was pleasantly surprised to discover Brittany Murphy had such a beautiful voice! Other members of the cast sing too, with Robin Williams’ rendition of My Way in Spanish being a highlight.

In common with the classic musicals, Happy Feet also has impressive dance sequences. If you have ever wondered what a bunch of penguins would look like tap dancing (You haven’t?), then here is your answer. Although their short legs make the dance moves slightly hard to distinguish from each other at times, the effect is warm, comical and endearing – which fits the feeling of the film perfectly.

The animation throughout the film is stunning. I was mesmerized by the effects in Monsters Inc. and how real Sully’s fur looked. Well, in Happy Feet, the animation is even more spectacular. There are amazing landscape shots which seem to have come straight from a David Attenborough documentary. Beautiful sunsets, underwater scenes and snowscapes provide an awesome backdrop to the film.

The penguins, whales, seals and other animals are very realistic too. It is easy to get into the film and empathise with the characters, because they look so real.

One of my favourite parts of the movie is when Mumble ends up in a zoo. This section combines real actors with the animation to great effect. It also gives you the chance to see the inside of a penguin exhibit from the other side. In Bristol Zoo, there is a section you can walk underneath a see-through tunnel and peer at the penguins through this. Happy Feet uses this idea, but with Mumble peering out.

Overall, I really loved the film. I found March of the Penguins disappointing, but Happy Feet exceeded my expectations. It is a great film for all the family. It is engaging, cute, entertaining, beautifully made and essentially fun.

EXTRAS

There are several extras on the DVD and these are cleverly made for both children and adults. I was a bit disappointed there wasn’t a commentary though, as I do enjoy those and find I learn a lot from them.

The extras are as follows –

Mumble Meets A Blue Whale

This is introduced by the director George Miller and is a tribute to Steve Irwin, who died after his contribution to the movie. Irwin originally played the albatross, then his part was changed to that of the elephant seal, which can be seen in the finished film.

This shows the albatross scene that Steve originally did the voice for, but which was cut from the final film. In it, the albatross talks to Mumble about a whale.

A Happy Feet Moment

This is a cute clip, but very short and without any introduction to explain if it was a deleted scene or not.

Dance like a Penguin: Stomp to the Beat

This section lasts around five minutes and features Savion Glover, who is a dancer and choreographer. This is geared towards the younger viewers and keeps the magic alive. He explains how dancing is important to Mumble in the film and shows how he ‘taught’ the penguin to dance. The adults can tell by the footage shown that the adults did the tap dancing and how it was used to animate the steps correctly, while the kids watching just enjoy the dance.

Then there is a tap dancing lesson from Savion. I am unsure how much of this would hold a child’s attention, but I am sure they would enjoy the section where Mumble and Savion perform the same routine ‘together’ on stage.

Creating the Tap

This is a four minute section explaining to the adult audience how the dancing penguins were realised. Savion is back again, along with choreographer Kelley Abbey. The latter explains her ‘Penguin School’ where she adapted tap steps to a penguin style and taught this to dancers.

She explains how there were individual steps done in animation, so it looked more realistic. The dances are not completely uniform; not every penguin is doing the same dance.

The scenes were achieved using a ‘motion capture’ film technique, which I found interesting. It is amazing what a long, complex and intricate process this is, but the results are excellent.

Behind the Scenes of Happy Feet

This is the longest extra at thirteen minutes. It features interviews with various cast and crew members, including Robin Williams, George Miller, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood and Nicole Kidman.

They explain the story, the characters, themes and the new ‘photo-reality’ style of animation used in the film.

There are clips of the actors performing their roles, then how it looks on the finished film. This was interesting and I was impressed with Robin Williams here. Normally I find him highly irritating, but he was funny here and threw himself emotionally and physically into his roles.

Annoyingly, there is some repetition here with more tap dancing and parts taken directly from other features here. By this stage, I was thoroughly bored of Savion Glover!

Somebody to Love by Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy is not someone I am very aware of, but she impressed me as Gloria, Mumble’s girlfriend. This section shows Brittany and the choir recording Queen’s classic Somebody to Love in the studio, interspersed with clips from the animated scene in the film. I loved Brittany’s version, she can really sing very well.

INFORMATION

The film lasts 109 minutes and is rated PG (although I feel it is suitable for all ages).

I bought the DVD of Happy Feet from Amazon for £11.98.

The original soundtrack CD is available for £9.98. This includes songs by some of the cast - Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, and Robin Williams – alongside kd Lang, The Beach Boys and Pink.

You can also buy cuddly toys, games, posters, sticker books, story books and the like.

DVD rating = 9 out of 10 – highly recommended. 

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