I'm spending my New Years Day doing laundry and watching tv. I'm sure someone out there is doing something more fun than I am, but this works for me. Today I watched Happy Feet. This is the adorable animated film that followed the documentary March of the Penguins in 2005. I suppose you could look at Happy Feet as the "exclusive, inside their world" version.
The story begins when the penguins sing to impress a mate. Memphis, played by Hugh Jackman, an Elvis inspired penguin sings seductive songs to impress Norma Jean, played by Nicole Kidman. Once together, the female lays an egg. Females leave their eggs with the males while they head out to sea to feed. The male is supposed to heard the egg with the other males to survive the winter, but Memphis accidentally drops his egg. He quickly hurries back into form, hoping no one noticed. When the family reunites, and their young baby Mumble is born, they quickly realize something isn't right. Mumble can't sing. He disgraces the leaders of the penguins, and Memphis blames himself, even though he never confesses his secret. Still, Mumble knows how to do something else. He can dance. His form of dancing is like tap dancing. He is the only one that can't sing, so he becomes an outcast, and remains so. As he gets older he notices the fish were disappearing, leaving the penguins starving. Banished from his home, he dedicates his time to finding where the fish are going and meets several fun characters on his journey. Robin Williams voices two other penguins he befriends. Thus begins his adventure to find aliens (humans) who are responsible for the famine.
The best part of the film is the ending. When the humans find Mumbles dancing fascinating, they place him back in his home, with a tracker. They visit Antarctica to see the rest of the penguins, to see if they are just as fascinating. Mumble teaches the moves, and all of the penguins follow. The humans watching even begin to move to the beat! In this Memphis learns acceptance and love, and to stand by his family. Norma Jean has always loved her boy even with his happy feet. Others have seen Mumbles strength and learn acceptance as well. It is a cute film, it even warms my adult heart.
To contrast the world of the penguins to the human world, the human world is in black and white. They show the humans in a political type role arguing about protecting the penguins, having noticed they were taking away their only food source. I really like how vibrant the colors are around the penguins, they are genuinely beautiful creatures.
I would recommend this film to families who like good music, a good beat, and a happy ending. Robin Williams makes it very funny as well!
Start the new year off right! Good luck everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment