"Happy Feet" Talkback (Spoilers)

This was probably my favorite animated movie this year - and in that respect it had me surprised, because I didn't expect anything other then to be mildly entertained. I will also agree that had the film ended 15 minutes earlier (albeit tweaked from there on out), it would have been the most unexpected and generally a less 'cop-out'ish ending. The film's story was really rich, and that last 15 minutes, while not horrible by any means (who doesn't like a happy ending?), still felt rather by-the-numbers and slightly out of place with the pace the rest of the film set.

I think this film in particular illustrates best the beauty CG can bring to the table when used. I really think the film would not have worked nearly as well if it was a traditionally animated film. Even the near-realistic models work wonderfully in the world the story is set in.
 
This is what I want to see more of in a CGI film. I want it to have the look and feel of a classic cartoon movie. A show that times have not really changed that much even though technollogy has. It does it in a way that few none pixar CGI movies can. With the 3-D talking animal movies that are the same basic thing over and over. It's nice to have one that has heart, something that most are missing. And rely on that heart more then pop culture jokes.

Really if more 3-D movies were like Happy Feet less people would probably be begging for the return of 2-d animated movies. of course both are good.
 
I loved this movie, I'd say it was one of the best movies of 2006.

I loved the good messages the film had, and the amazing animation!

I saw suprised (and disgusted) by some really childish reactions to the film when I went to IMDB.com (go there and you'll see what I mean).

People complaining that it had sexual content...
People complaining that it was propaganda and political...
Ugh!
 
I found this to be a really unfocused movie, or tonally inconsistent, or both. There was a lot I liked about it, and I admired the effort that went into it and the general originality of it. It wasn't your by-the-numbers animated movie or kids' movie; it had a unique character concept rather than just "a talking penguin movie", which is what's missing in a lot of new CGI movies.

But I still can't really tell you what the movie is about. Is it about a disabled penguin growing up in an unaccepting environment? Or is it about a penguin going on an adventure to find out why the fish are disappearing? I think these were two very distinct plotlines that didn't really come together. And they seemed to sort of clumsily try to weave them together. At first the other penguins didn't accept him because of his inability to sing, but then... they didn't accept him because they thought he was crazy. I don't think there was really a good connection there. It wasn't thematically consistent. In fact, when Mumble said "no more singing", I almost felt like one of the writers was getting frustrated with the other writers, saying "we need to do this part of the movie now!"

And then there's the matter of tone. I'm all for having dramatic scenes in family movies, because they really help to make the movie memorable. (The early scene with the egg was an example of a good dramatic scene.) But I found the switch from lighthearted comedy to the more serious adventure plot to be very jarring. That scene where he's clashing with the "high priest" penguin felt really strange, almost melodramatic compared to everything else that happened. All of a sudden the movie started dealing with themes of religious fundamentalism and it seemed much too complex, very out of place. It just didn't seem to have to do with everything before that point. It's like the first half of the movie was about him growing up, and now that he was grown up they were going to make him the hero of some new adventure story. I just didn't think it worked.


I don't know. I respect the effort here, and there's a lot of good to be found, but it never really came together for me.
 
Out of my better judgment and out of boredom, went to see this yesterday.
While I thought this was a fairly decent, I think my primary problem with this movie is mainly another issue of yet another, "Main hero doesn't stand out amongst his peers and is ridiculed for what he does, but that special talent ends up saving them in the end" feel that I've already seen in things like "Bug's Life" or "Robots" to name a few. I guess I can't expect complete originalty though, but it would have been nice to spice it up a bit or something. *shrugs*Maybe it's just a story I no longer care for much anymore.

I didn't care much for the characters, probably because of the "eh" story, but seriously, is there like a mandatory law that states every main hero must have a chatterbox sidekick? Fortuntely, Ramon wasn't annoying, so I can forgive. That said, I really wish I didn't have to hear the voice of Norma Jean. I was never a fan of female voices that make them high pitch sound and will-o-wisp feel.

Cliche plot aside, at least the movie didn't do what I though most of the today's 3D animal flicks would do, that is, resort to fart jokes or any other sense of what I deem immature humor that I feel undermines both kids and adults, and at least when it came to the rage of pop cultural music, it's integorated into the plot instead of just haphazardly shoved in there just because it'll help sell the movie. I personally liked whenever they blend whatever R&B or rap or whatever with the orchestra piece which I paid attention to more music-wise then the singing (I'm not a fan of today's current wave of musical genres).

Animation is gorgeous though (Them baby penguins are the epitomy of friggin' adorable), see the icebergs crumble or shots of the mountains and such were primary awesome to watch.

Not enough to convince me to go back to watching 3D flicks outside of Pixar, but it's a far more sophiscated film then most of it's genre, so I give it bonus brownie points for that.
 
One problem I see is that I'm not even really sure how the special talent did save him in the end. I mean, I do remember what happened -- they were so impressed by his dancing that they decided to study his tribe and/or stop the fishing -- but it seemed like they tacked that on to connect two plots that didn't want to connect. Did the whole fishing plot really have to do with this dancing penguin? I wasn't convinced that it did.
 
I had that thought, too. I mean, seeing a dancing penguin is awe inspiring and certainly not something you see everyday, but I didn't get how dancing equals fish shortage for the flightless birds in human eyes.
 
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