o! Just Me

I wanted to see this movie with my niece - Nishita. I knew she would enjoy the Penguins. We decided against the idea of the Imax Dome at Wadala, Mumbai lest she started running around like she did watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, shouting that she is faster than Harry. It is still the BIG TV for her with other Movie Theaters. We saw Happy Feet today at Fun Republic, Mumbai and she enjoyed a lot - shouting along, singing and even some step dances inside the hall.

Happy Feet is treated like any other Film and not just another animation movie, it is a real movie. There were enough humor to keep the parents attention alive while entertaining the kids with the musical beat and the foot tapping numbers. Happy Feet is set on an environmental conservation theme cinematically displayed to us in a poetic fashion. If you have seen March of the Penguins (a narrative by Morgan Freeman), this is like that but with lots of color, music and sound. Incidentally, I watched March of the Penguins on Christmas eve last year.

Sweet voice by Nicole Kidman, Norma Jean, mother to Mumble, the different-from-other Penguin of the folks. Right from the day Mumble hatched, his dad, Memphis (Hugh Jackman’s voice) felt that he ain’t that Penguin. You’ll find out why, enjoy the movie, enjoy the awesome motion-capture shots, enjoy the music which is tuned with rock, funk, opera, rap, liturgical, pop, gospel, and Latin.

The story is about Mumble ( baby voice by Elizabeth Daily and grown up voice by Elijah Wood) and how he saved his tribe of Penguins. His exile by the Penguin High Priest (voice by Hugo Weaving), his love Gloria (voice by Brittany Murphy), almost killed in a watery chase by a toothsome seal, meeting the Adelie Amigos, a group of five happy-go-lucky Latino penguins (they find his moves so accidentally cool) led by Ramon (voice by Robin Williams), finally meeting the Aliens and spreading a foot tapping message - clear enough for the Aliens to take up a - No Fishing - effort to curve the environmental imbalance, thus saving the Penguins.

In their search for the Aliens, they met the self-styled Guru or Lovelace (voice of Robin Williams again in a bit of a different tone) who let them to the Aliens so Mumble can plea to them to stop taking their fish away. They all set out for the Forbidden Shore, where elephant seals (one of them voiced by the late Steve Irwin) warn him he’ll encounter the dreaded annihilator Aliens. He also crosses paths with two killer but playful whales in a scene of some amazing CGI action.

Visit the Happy Feet Movie Database to know whose voice were behind the Penguins. It is learnt that Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and even Robin Williams do the singing for their respective characters. Writer/director George Miller wanted to change some lyrics from Prince’s Kiss. Prince initially denied them permission, but after screening some footage from the film, he was so inspired — he changed his mind on that and wrote an original song for the film which plays during the end credits. It would definitely be worth buying the movie’s DVD for the Songs, and if they don’t have that, one should get the Original Sound Track.