Review of Happy Feet (2006) by Stevek. — 27 Mar 2007

I try not to read too many reviews before watching a movie so it doesn't bias my viewing, but after watching the movie and reading all the glowing praise for this "kid's movie", I just don't get it.

As an adult movie, it is really, horribly inconsistent with so many themes rolled up into one that not very many are done very well. At times, it felt like many superior movies stitched together into a considersably less entertaining whole.

The pacing of the movie is jarring and the last third of the movie is more than a little weird. The singing penguins were bizarre in a Baz Luhrman way but in a much more uncomfortable way.... cuz it's supposed to be a kids' movie! Anyone who says "oh, was it suposed to be a kids' movie?" doesn't know hollywood very well or seen any of the myriad cross-promotions.

I kid you not, the first line you hear the penguins sing is "you don't have to be beautiful to turn me on, I just need your body baby from dusk til dawn." (from Prince's "Kiss") and you also get Penguins singing things like "I'll make love to you" (Boys II Men).

Plus, the "love story" in the movie takes a much too complicated turn for little kids. Kids absorb EVERY word and lyric spoken in these movies. They know every song and word by heart. I don't mean to be a prude but I'm going to cringe more than a little if I see a little kid singing "Kiss".

This movie had so much promise, great action sequences and animation, a noble effort to have a pro-environmental theme, but just in the end, too inconsistent, weird, and disturbing for me.