Happy Feet (2006)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Directors:

George Miller
Warren Coleman (co-director)

Writers:

Warren Coleman (written by)
John Collee (written by)

Release Date:

17 November 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Music

Tagline:

WARNING: May Cause Toe-Tapping.

Plot:

Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!

Plot Keywords:

Penguin | Dance | True Love | Tap Dancing | Antarctica

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 12 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Carlos Alazraqui	...	Nestor (voice)
Lombardo Boyar	...	Raul (voice)
Jeffrey Garcia	...	Rinaldo (voice) (as Jeff Garcia)
Johnny A. Sanchez	...	Lombardo (voice) (as Johnny Sanchez III)
Robin Williams	...	Ramon / Lovelace (voice)
Elijah Wood	...	Mumble (voice)
Brittany Murphy	...	Gloria (voice)
Hugh Jackman	...	Memphis (voice)
Nicole Kidman	...	Norma Jean (voice)
Hugo Weaving	...	Noah the Elder (voice)
Elizabeth Daily	...	Baby Mumble (voice) (as E.G. Daily)
Magda Szubanski	...	Miss Viola (voice)
Miriam Margolyes	...	Mrs. Astrakhan (voice)
Fat Joe	...	Seymour (voice)
Alyssa Shafer	...	Baby Gloria (voice)

Also Known As:

Happy Feet: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Happy feet - El pingüino (Argentina) (Colombia) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Happy Feet (Greece) [el]
Happy Feet (France) [fr]
Happy feet - Rompiendo el hielo (Spain) [es]
Happy feet - Trencant el gel (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Les petits pieds du bonheur (Canada: French title) [fr]
Neseli ayaklar (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild peril and rude humor.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels) | Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES

Certification:

Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG (certificate #43018) | Netherlands:MG6 | UK:U | Malaysia:U | Argentina:Atp | Hong Kong:I | Peru:PT | Finland:K-7 | Australia:G | Sweden:7 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/4 (Qualidade) | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | South Korea:All | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:G | New Zealand:PG (re-rating) | New Zealand:PG | Norway:A (TV rating) | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Fox Studios, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Kingdom Feature Productions

Trivia:

First Best Animated Feature Oscar Winner to feature live-action, non-animated elements (the film must be at least 75% animated to reach Academy standards)

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Mumble is in the aquarium, there is a long zoom out until the earth is visible as a small disk in space. Stars in the background twinkle. However, stars should not twinkle when seen from space. They only twinkle when seen from earth because of variations of the atmosphere.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Penguin #1: [singing] Once there was a way to get back homeward.
Penguin #2: [singing] Are the stars out tonight?
Penguin #1: [singing] Once there was a way to get back home.
Penguin #2: [singing] I only have eyes for you.
Penguin #1: [singing] Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry.
Penguin #2: [singing] For you.
Penguin #1: [singing] And I will sing a lullaby.
Penguin #3: [singing] With a song in my heart.
Penguin #4: [singing] So tell me / Tell me something good / Yeah, yeah, yeah / Tell me that you love me. / Tell me, baby. / Tell me something good.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#37.14)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

In My Room

This was a great film for all ages

Finally saw this on Sunday when it previewed in the UK (out on full release Friday). The cinema was packed with kids ranging from babies to teenagers. Our group had kids from 3-15 in it as well as the parents. We all absolutely loved it; what I thought was so good was that the kids in the party all reacted according to their ages. The little ones just thought the penguins were cute and the chase scenes etc were thrilling. But the older ones thought the film had a deeper message and really enjoyed it.

I would normally be fairly bored at a kids' film and have just gone to take the kids - but all the adults were fascinated the whole time. We all agreed that it was easily the best animated movie of the year. I would recommend it for any age of kid. The audience in general obviously loved it judging by the laughter but by the enthralled silence at the dramatic parts.

Most families obviously consist of children of different ages - so it is not easy to find a film that appeals to teenagers as well as 3 year olds. This one did - an had the adults enthralled as well. I am not surprised that it beat Casino Royale at the Box Office in US 2 week ends running.

The green message was great - I think it is really important that children should be aware of not littering etc, respecting the planet, from a young age. Having said that, I'm not sure the kids really got that message but it might have had some effect on the older ones.

Have read some stuff on here saying kids should not be taught liberal values or not be made aware of them. Liberal values like tolerance and fairness etc. The film didn't promote those values more than a lot of kids' movies but even if it had I can't imagine why anyone would be worried about that so I'm not going to give it serious consideration.

The film I went to see was basically a really exciting adventure story with excellent acting - you really felt for Mumble - he wasn't just a stock character. I thought Elijah Wood did an excellent job in that role. Quite a few people on the internet are asking - why use such famous actors for Happy Feet - why not have an unknown voice cast? Obviously having a very big name cast of A listers costs far more and so reduces the profits - at least that might appear to be the case. Here is one reply I found - "some of the famous actors out there are famous (and expensive) for a reason- they're good at what they do. Elijah Wood really is pretty amazing at playing a sympathetic lead; Nicole Kidman has a fantastic singing voice to go along with a sweet stage presence...." The visual effects were really breath-taking, probably the best animation I've ever seen. But the film also had an intriguing story with some depth - it wasn't just a bland cutesy film.

I strongly recommend it for children, especially when you think of all the predictable rubbish that Hollywood often serves up for family films.

Up-date - I am very pleased that it won the Oscar for Best Animated; I thought that it was clearly the best animated film of the year - and also I was pleased to see the Academy award originality and depth as opposed to a pleasant but rather bland, mix-as-before Pixar product.