What is it about? -- A tap-dancing penguin (voiced by Elijah Wood) is alienated by his community because of his inability to "sing" like the rest of them, goes on a do-it-or-die mission to rescue his race from food-depletion, and ends up a hero and converts every other penguin into die-hard tap-dancers too. I'm not kidding.Who's in it? -- If you can discern their voices, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Robin Williams and Hugo Weaving are the big-names involved in this animated feature. They also do their own singing. Ms Murphy, especially, has a mean set of pipes!
Why you should/shouldn't watch it -- This is probably the most hyped-about animated film to hit cinemas this Christmas/Holiday season and also one of those which actually delivers. Or almost, anyway. (On a sidenote, I don't think there'd ever be a "cartoon" film which could top the greatness of Finding Nemo or The Incredibles).
The CGI animation is top-notch and the first half of the film zooms by with plenty of laughs and enjoyable song and dance routines to engage both the kiddies and adults alike. By the second half though, the film gets bogged down abit by the politically-correct and eco-friendly undertones, and climaxes to a finish which, in my opinion, was too convenient and unbelievable even by movie-cartoon standards. Nevertheless, most people would find it more than satisfactory. It's just a film, what! Cartoon some-more...
For those of you who are disinclined toward animated films but are willing to give Happy Feet a try, then let me list 3 factors which I thought were the show's distinctive strengths:
1) As mentioned earlier, the top-notch animation.
2) The tap-dancing penguins. Either be blown away by the choreography (the movements are of real dancers in motion-capture suits) or the overwhelming cuteness of those fluffy penguins.
3) The irrepressible Robin Williams, providing fantastic voice-over work for no less than THREE penguin characters. I don't think the film would be half as entertaining without him.
In a nutshell -- If you thoroughly enjoyed watching March of the Penguins, or have a penchant for cutesy animals, or if you're simply a media-design student who wants to be inspired by excellent CGI work, then Happy Feet would cater to all your needs/expectations.
However, if you're the sort who gets vomitting-spasms from saccharine cutesy-ness or would rather watch something with a little more edge, then you should have caught Aardman Animations' Flushed Away instead (from the same people responsible for the wickedly humorous Wallace & Gromit).
my ratings: 3/5 stars!
But 3.8/5 stars because of Robin Williams!!!
