Norma Jean and Memphis fell in love in the normal way for Emperor penguins by singing. Norma Jean went off with the other women to catch fish while Memphis took care of their egg. He felt horrible when he dropped the egg once and decided to keep that from Norma Jean. Their son Mumble was a bit different from the time he hatched, mostly because he was dancing a lot. Once he started school, everyone found out that Mumble couldn’t sing, which didn’t give him a good chance of finding his soul mate as an adult. Mumble tried to fit in and get Gloria to love him, but most of the other penguins thought he was just too different. Mumble was ultimately banished by Noah the Elder and blamed for the food shortage. Mumble and his new friends - four shorter penguins - headed off in search of answers for the food problem.
Happy Feet was mainly focused on Mumble and his attempts to fit in. The movie did start off by showing how the penguins fell in love through a song. That scene really just focused on Memphis and Norma Jean falling in love with each other even though many other penguins were also around, including other males that were hoping she would pick them. Different parts of Mumble’s life were shown with only a few scenes showing him as a child. Children shouldn’t have any trouble following the plot related to Mumble since that part wasn’t complicated. There was also a more serious subplot related to the food shortage for the penguins. That did make the plot slightly more complicated than the plots of most animated movies. Children may not fully understand that part of the movie. The pace did slow down a bit during the more serious scenes that were dealing with the food problem. Children might find those scenes a little boring.
As Happy Feet progressed, the more serious subplot dealing with the lack of fish for the penguins received more attention. It was mentioned a few times about how difficult it was for them to find enough fish. Noah the Elder even went so far as to blame the food shortage on Mumble’s dancing. The way humans and their actions impacted animals in Antarctica was shown in several scenes. Mumble decided that he was going to try to do something to stop the fish shortage. Some of those scenes did get a little slower, especially when Mumble seemed to be making a speech. That part did get a bit preachy, especially later in the movie, which could bother some viewers. Much of the movie was fun and entertaining, but this really isn’t a light hearted animated movie overall. None of the trailers I had seen indicated that the movie was going to have a very serious, even slightly sad, subplot. Some people will probably end up being disappointed with the movie if they are expecting nothing but a fun, happy, perhaps even slightly silly, movie.
Happy Feet contained several scenes that had some action in them. Mumble ended up involved in most of those scenes in some way. His new friends were also involved in some of those sequences. The action scenes were well done and helped to keep things interesting. Mumble did end up in danger more than once. There were some sequences that were very intense and it seemed like a character wouldn’t be able to survive. Some children, especially younger children, could be upset or even scared by some of those scenes. The movie was rated PG because of the scenes dealing with peril, so parents need to keep that in mind when deciding if this is a movie for their child to see. Just because this is an animated movie doesn’t mean that it would be a good movie choice for every child.
Singing was very important to the Emperor penguins. They started learning about their heart songs and how important they were when they were still in school. Different penguins stated that a penguin that couldn’t sing or didn’t have a heart song would end up living alone. Norma Jean and Memphis sang to each other during the first scene of the movie. Throughout the rest of the movie, other penguins were shown singing for different reasons. Mumble tried to sing more than once and it never turned out well. Every penguin had a different heart song, most of which I did recognize when I heard them. Norma Jean sang Prince’s Kiss, which was a somewhat suggestive song. That didn’t bother me, but parents might be concerned about that since the movie is mostly aimed at kids. When I saw the movie, I was almost positive that Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman did the singing for their characters. I did find out later that I was right about that. According to what I read, Brittany Murphy also did all the singing for the character of Gloria.
Happy Feet was created with computer animation like most of the new animated movies are anymore. I did read that a lot of motion capture technology was used to capture the dancing movements for Mumble and other characters. The animation was very well done throughout the movie. Several scenes featured the ocean and the water looked very realistic. Late in the movie a few sequences were done that combined animated penguins with real humans in the same shots. Those parts were done well, though it did seem just a little strange to see real people turn up.
Since most of Happy Feet was about Mumble and his attempts to fit in, he was the most developed character. He was different from all the others because of his dancing and he even looked a bit different as well. He had a very hard time getting acceptance, even from his own father at times. Elijah Wood did a good job with the voice for the character. Gloria and Mumble had been friends since right after they hatched and Gloria stood up for him when others picked on him. Once they were older, Gloria was very popular and developed a beautiful singing voice, so all of the single male penguins were hoping she would pick them. She did get fed up with Mumble at times even though she was his friend. I thought that Brittany Murphy did a good job with the voice.
Memphis and Norma Jean were important since they were Mumble’s parents even thought they weren’t around as much as their son. Memphis tended to be more strict, probably because he was trying to make up for the fact that he once dropped Mumble as an egg. The voice that Hugh Jackman provided for Memphis was very different from how I’ve heard him in any other movie. It did sort of sound like he was impersonating Elvis, but that fit with the character. The voice Nicole Kidman did for Norma Jean was breathy and even sexy sounding, sort of like Marylin Monroe. Hugo Weaving really didn’t have to say too much as Noah the Elder. Robin Williams did voices for two of the shorter penguins that Mumble met, Ramon and Lovelace. The voices did sound a lot like voices he’s done for characters in other animated movies. Ramon was fun loving and a bit wild. For the other penguins Lovelace was like a guru, answering their questions for pebbles.
Voice Talent
Hugh Jackman - Memphis
Nicole Kidman - Norma Jean
Brittany Murphy - Gloria
Hugo Weaving - Noah the Elder
Robin Williams - Ramon/Lovelace
Elijah Wood - Mumble
George Miller - Director
Happy Feet was a good, entertaining animated movie. Certain things would probably upset children and some adults may not like the message that was added in either. The movie can be enjoyed as long as people don’t expect it to be just a funny, light hearted animated movie.
This is a brilliant review.
I'm definitely gonna watch this, I didn't know it was directed by George Miller. One cannot miss his works.
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