Happy Feet

Happy Feet
Happy Feet Official Poster
Directed by	George Miller
Written by	Warren Coleman John Collee George Miller Judy Morris
Produced by	George Miller Doug Mitchell Bill Miller
Starring	Elijah Wood Robin Williams Brittany Murphy Hugh Jackman Nicole Kidman Hugo Weaving Anthony LaPaglia Magda Szubanski Steve Irwin Fat Joe
Music by	John Powell Gia Farrell
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	November 17, 2006 (U.S.) December 8, 2006 (UK) December 26, 2006 (Australia)
Running time	108 min.
Countries	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	$100,000,000

Happy Feet is an Australian-produced 2006 computer-animated comedy-drama film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures and was released in North America on November 17, 2006. It is the first animated feature film produced by Kennedy Miller in association with Animal Logic. Though primarily an animated film, it does incorporate live action humans in certain scenes. The film was simultaneously released in both conventional theatres and in IMAX 2D format. The studio has hinted that a future IMAX 3D release was a possibility. Happy Feet won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.

The film was dedicated in memory of Nick Enright, Michael Jonson, Robby McNeilly Green, and Steve Irwin.

Plot

Set in an Antarctic emperor penguin colony, the film established that every penguin must make a unique noise called a "heartsong" to attract a mate. If the female likes the male's song and if it fits with the female's and helps complete it, the two penguins mate. This is based in fact, since emperor couples court each other and recognize one another by their unique calls. One penguin, Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman), sings the song "Kiss", whereupon a male penguin named Memphis (Hugh Jackman) sings "Heartbreak Hotel". Norma Jean chooses him as her mate. They couple and Norma Jean lays an egg. The egg is left in Memphis's care while Norma Jean and the other females leave to fish for several weeks. While the males are struggling through the harsh winter, Memphis drops the egg, briefly exposing it to the freezing Antarctic temperatures. The resulting chick - the film's protagonist, Mumble (Elizabeth Daily as child version, Elijah Wood as adult version) - has a terrible singing voice. However, Mumble had a talent for something that none of the penguins had ever seen before: tap dancing.

This ability is frowned upon by the colony's elders, who do not tolerate deviance of any kind. As a result, Mumble is ostracized throughout his childhood, with only his mother and his best friend Gloria (Brittany Murphy) to turn to for help. Mumble grows into an adult, still half-covered in fluffy down. Through a series of mishaps - mainly getting chased by a hungry leopard seal - the penguin finds himself far from his home and within the carefree colony of adelie penguins - penguins small in stature, but fiercely loyal to those they call friends. He quickly befriends a small group of bachelors who form a club of sorts called the Amigos: the leader, Ramon (Robin Williams), the brothers Raul (Lombardo Boyar) and Nestor (Carlos Alazraqui), and twin brothers Rinaldo (Jeff Garcia) and Lombardo (Johnny A. Sanchez). The Amigos quickly embrace Mumble's dance moves and assimilate him into their misfit group.

Mumble's joy at finding acceptance is cut short when he starts discovering strange, alien things; after his accidentally starting an avalanche a long-frozen human excavator tumbles out from a glacier, and Mumble is intrigued. Driven by curiosity, he sets out to find the "aliens" responsible for the machine.

In Mumble's old home, it is mating season, and Gloria is the center of attention; however, although she is surrounded by a large horde of suitors, none of their heartsongs interest her whatsoever. At this point, Ramon stands behind a newly-arrived Mumble and sings a Spanish version of "My Way". Gloria likes the song to a degree but isn't fooled, for she knows that Mumble can't sing. She pushes him forward, revealing Ramon. When Mumble tells her that the act was the best he could offer, Gloria turns back to the other males, visibly distraught. Though she does have feelings for him and doesn't want to leave him all alone, Mumble clearly has no heartsong and both of them are temporarily heartbroken. Mumble then tries to persuade her to sing along to his tapping rhythm. Gloria is reluctant at first but complies, finding that Mumble's rhythm fits with her melody just as a heartsong would. As Mumble's beat speeds up Gloria finds the chorus to her heartsong, and realizes her song "Boogie Wonderland", is a dance song. Overcome with happiness over the fact that they can now be mates since their individual talents do indeed fit together, the pair begin dancing, with the other penguins joining in much to Mumble's delight.

Noah (Hugo Weaving), the elder, sees the lack of fish as punishment from the Great 'Guin, their god, for Mumble's dancing. Mumble tries to explain about the mysterious "aliens" he had heard about and that they are the cause of the scarceness of fish, but none of the penguins believe him. Noah exiles Mumble from the colony as a result of his strange ways and theories, but before Mumble leaves, he vows that he will find the real cause of the famine. He travels across vast territories with the Amigos and Lovelace, a self-worshiping rockhopper. Gloria tries to help him but Mumble, out of fear for her safety, does whatever it takes to get rid of her - namely, insulting her singing talents.

The Amigos, along with Mumble and Lovelace, travel many miles under harsh conditions. During their journey, they meet a group of elephant seals, who warn of "Annihilators", who are presumably the same "aliens" Mumble seeks. After narrowly escaping from two killer whales, the penguins finally come face to face with a legion of huge commercial trawlers, all laden with fish caught around the Antarctic coast. Mumble follows after them, leaving his friends behind to bear testament to his legacy.

After swimming and being tossed around by sea currents, Mumble ends up in a penguin exhibit at a marine park (closely resembling the Penguin Encounter at SeaWorld, a massive zoom-out hinting at the one in Orlando, Florida), and fervently tries to communicate with the "aliens" (humans) who surround him. When his pleas fail, Mumble nearly succumbs to madness after three months of confinement in the sterile glass prison. When a child taps on the glass wall one day, Mumble is woken from his stupor and dances in response, whereupon the child appears to run away. He becomes disappointed until she comes back with her mother. Soon, a large crowd gathers around the exhibit, taking pictures and telling their friends of this marvel. He is released to the wild, now with less fluffy down feathers and more adult feathers, and a tracking device strapped to his back, and leads the "aliens" home to his native colony. The other penguins are skeptical at first, but when Gloria notices the beeping tracking device they realize that Mumble was right about the "aliens" and they were all wrong to judge him on his theories and his dancing. Now convinced that the aliens exist they once again dance alongside Mumble in hopes of getting the aliens' attention.

Soon, a research team arrives and films the penguins dancing, and the humans begin to dance along with the rhythm. They bring this footage back to the human world. Different governments debate what to make of this footage and a worldwide debate ensues. They soon realize that they are overfishing the Antarctic waters, and conclude that perhaps the penguins were trying to communicate that to them. Antarctic fishing is banned, and the fish population recovers. At this, the Emperor Penguins and the Amigos dance and celebrate their triumph. A dancing baby penguin seen at the end is implied to be the child of Mumble and Gloria.

In the credits, the characters reunite to dance for the final number "Song of the Heart."

Production

The animation in Happy Feet invested heavily in motion capture technology, with the dance scenes acted out by human dancers. The tap-dancing for Mumble in particular was provided by Savion Glover who was also co-choreographer for the dance sequences. The dancers went through "Penguin School" to learn how to move like a penguin, and also wore head apparatus to mimic a penguin's beak.

Happy Feet was partially inspired by earlier documentaries such as the BBC's Life in the Freezer.

The film took four years to make. Ben Gunsberger, Lighting Supervisor and VFX Department Supervisor, says this was partly because they needed to build new infrastructure and tools.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Happy Feet

Actor	Penguin and/or Other Animal
Ron Jeremy	Mumble
Marilyn Chambers	Gloria
Bambi Woods	Memphis
Harry Reems	Norma Jean
Linda Lovelace	Ramón / Lovelace
Jenna Jameson	Noah the Elder
Linda Wong	Néstor
Dolly Sharp	Raul
Stormy Daniels	Rinaldo
John Holmes	Lombardo
Misty Winter	Seymour
Jack Wrangler	Miss Viola
Miriam Margolyes	Mrs. Astrakhan
Dee Bradley Baker	Maurice
Chrissie Hynde	Michelle
E.G. Daily	Baby Mumble
Alyssa Shafer	Baby Gloria
César Flores	Baby Seymour
Anthony LaPaglia	Boss Skua
Danny Mann	Dino/Zoo Penguin
Mark Klastorin	Vinnie
Michael Cornacchia	Frankie
Nicholas McKay	Nev
Tiriel Mora	Kev
Steve Irwin	Trev
Richard Carter	Barry
Roger Rose	The Leopard Seal
Peter Carroll	Elder
Larry Moss	Elder
Lee Perry	Elder/Zoo Penguin
Alan Shearman	Elder
Giselle Loren	Adélie Chica
Denise Blasor	Adélie Chica
Michelle Arthur	Adélie Chica

Music

Main article: Happy Feet (soundtracks)

Happy Feet is a jukebox musical, taking previously recorded songs and working them into the film's soundtrack to fit with the mood of the scene or character. Two soundtrack albums were released for the film; one containing songs from and inspired by the film, and another featuring John Powell's instrumental score. They were released on October 31, 2006 and December 19, 2006, respectively.

Release dates

Region	Release date
United States	November 17, 2006
United Kingdom	December 8, 2006
Australia	December 26, 2006
Mexico	January 12, 2007

Awards

Won

Academy Awards

• Best Animated Feature

60th British Academy Film Awards

• Best Animated Feature Film

Golden Globes

• Best Original Song - "Song of the Heart" by Prince

American Film Institute Awards 2006

• Honored as one of the Top Ten Best Films of the Year

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

• Best Animation

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

• Best Animated Film

Golden Trailer Awards

• Best Music

Heartland Awards

• The Truly Moving Picture Award

Kids' Choice Awards

• Favorite Animated Movie

British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Children's Awards

• Best Feature Film

Nominations

Golden Globe Award

• Best Animated Feature

Annie Awards

• Best Animated Feature
• Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Satellite Awards

• Nominated for Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media

Top Ten Lists

The film appeared on numerous critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006 (not including AFI's Annual list, which is listed above).

• 1st - Jack Matthews, The New York Daily News
• 1st - Stan Urankar, Sun News
• 2nd - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• 2nd - Mark Palermo, The Coast
• 3rd - Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
• 4th - Edward Douglas, Comingsoon.net
• 5th - Scott Foundas, Village Voice
• 5th - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
• 5th - Matthieu Santelli, CritiKat
• 6th - Carole Wrona, CritiKat
• 6th - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
• 6th - Kyle Smith, New York Post
• 6th - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
• 6th - Keith Cohen, Sun Newspapers
• 8th - Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

Home video

Happy Feet was released on March 27, 2007 in the United States in three formats; DVD (in separate widescreen and pan and scan editions), Blu-ray Disc, and an HD DVD/DVD combo disc.

Among the DVD's special features is a scene that was cut from the film where Mumble meets a blue whale and an albatross. The albatross was Steve Irwin's first voice role in the film before he voiced the elephant seal in the final cut. The scene was finished and included on the DVD in memory of Steve Irwin. This scene is done in Steve's classic documentary style, with the albatross telling the viewer all about the other characters in the scene, and the impact people are having on their environment.

Video games

Main article: Happy Feet (video game)

A video game based on the film was developed by A2M and published by Midway Games. It has the same main cast as the film. It was released for the following platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, GBA, NDS, and Wii. Screenshots and demo clips of the various versions of the Happy Feet game can be seen at the official website.

Artificial Life, Inc. has also developed a Happy Feet mobile game for the Japan market.

Reception

Box office

Weekend	Gross	Rank	Total
1	$41,533,568	1	$41,533,432
2	$37,038,046	1	$99,256,766
3	$17,545,418	1	$121,501,018
4	$12,904,413	2	$137,932,841
5	$8,358,421	4	$149,244,791
6	$5,163,474	8	$160,521,910
7	$7,650,181	9	$179,152,000
8	$4,004,462	13	$185,414,182

The film opened at number one in the United States on its first weekend of release (November 17-November 19) grossing $41.6M and beating Casino Royale for the top spot. It remained number one for the Thanksgiving weekend, making $51.6 million over the five-day period. In total, the film was the top grosser for three weeks, a 2006 box office feat matched only by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. As of June 8, 2008, Happy Feet has grossed $198.0 million in the U.S. and $186.3 million overseas, making about $384.3 million dollars worldwide. The film has been released in about 35 international territories at the close of 2006.

The production budget was $100 million.

Critical reviews

Happy Feet has received better than average reviews from film critics, and received a 74% "fresh" approval in the Rotten Tomatoes movie review aggregate site, with an 82% percent from the Top Critics .

• Kirk Honeycutt said that Happy Feet "astonishes," it has brilliant choreography and orchestration, and is entertaining for younger viewers. Honeycutt also said that, "[George] Miller boldly reaches for spiritual themes," and "happily, it all works."

• Gene Seymour described Happy Feet as "a rich, absorbing story that isn't content to dazzle you with effects, but rouse your spirits." Seymour adds "nothing prepares you for its sweeping visual design and its conceptual energy."

• Lou Lumenick praised Happy Feet for its "stunning visuals," calling the film "inspired" and "uplifting." Lumenick further added that "It's Dumbo meets Footloose," and "Happy Feet is not only the year's best animated movie, it's one of the year's best movies, period. Go."

• The film received a "two thumbs up" rating on the television show Ebert & Roeper. A. O. Scott, Roger Ebert's temporary replacement, is quoted as saying "Happy Feet was made with enough skill, and enough heart, to get a thumbs up from me." Richard Roeper agreed, saying "I think kids will love it, because penguins are cute."

• Jordan Harper of The Village Voice was quoted as saying "If anything could tempt an adult to go see a dancing-penguin movie, it's the phrase 'from the guy who brought you Babe.' That movie got everything right about talking animals, but alas, George Miller does not live up to his earlier work here. Even the wee ones may start to notice something's amiss when the movie's theme goes from 'be yourself' to 'we must regulate the overfishing of the Antarctic oceans.' No, for real."

• Andrez Bergen of The Daily Yomiuri in Japan said that "[Robin] Williams is a revelation in both his roles, there are some choice vignettes from Anthony LaPaglia (as the leader of the mafialike gulls) and Steve Irwin (an ocker elephant seal), while - on a visual level - the brilliant rollercoaster avalanche scene makes all the song-and-dance redundant... It's through knowing references to movies like Dirty Dancing, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dumbo, and Moby-Dick, that this movie really is riotous, while a leopard seal attack that comes straight after Mumble's botched graduation ceremony is right up there with the suspense and horror of the shark attacks in Jaws, sans John Williams' score."

• Jay Millikan of Stylus Magazine says of the film, "as an example of a film that transcends its kiddie origins and becomes a thoughtful, well-crafted movie that appeals to intelligent adults, Hollywood rarely does better than Happy Feet.

• Match Cuts, the film literacy and analysis blog ran by a full-time film lecturer at Platt College in San Diego, called it "George Miller's masterpiece," and goes on to say, "Miller’s haunting mise-en-scene frames each character through blue hued ice caps, bleached white horizons, and countless roving tracking shots of a world in motion and slightly out of whack." And on, "Happy Feet will inevitably be one of the most important children’s films released in a long time, most notably because it connects with the viewer not through browbeating messages or sensationalist slants, but via a universal story."

• Fred Topal, of CanMag, says of the film, "I may have spent more than 2/3 confused but man, when it all comes together, it’s one of the most brilliant pieces of story construction in modern cinema. Probably George Miller’s most powerful statement since the Mad Max films... I thought the first alien riff was just a non sequitur. When they brought it back and started with the heavy machinery, it felt gimmicky. But the payoff pulls everything together and makes a profound statement about unscientific faith and ineffective politics. And it’s the biggest surprise ending in years."

• Josh Tyler writes, in his review for Cinema Blend, "Miller...takes what might have been a rather simple story of an outsider finding a way to fit in and turns it into a grand and beautiful work of cinematic art," and goes on to say of it, "Miller doesn't settle just for large-scale adventure though, the movie is packed with thematic depth and complexity beyond the ken of this relatively short review to describe.

Analysis

The film has also garnered, since its release, quite a bit of analysis and dissection from various places. Film critic Yar Habnegnal has written an essay, published in Forum on Contemporary Art and Society, that examines the themes of encroachment presented throughout the film, as well as various other subtexts and themes.

Sequel

A follow-up to the film is currently in production at Dr. D Studios. The estimated release date is November 18, 2011.

Environmental message

As things progress there is increasing emphasis on environmental problems in the Antarctic.

The film's denouement shows a group of researchers taking video of the colony of dancing emperor penguins, and the footage is broadcast globally. After many heated arguments this publicity generates considerable pressure to stop commercial overfishing of the Antarctic.

According to the director, George Miller, the environmental message was not a major part of the original script, but "In Australia, we're very, very aware of the ozone hole," he said, "and Antarctica is literally the canary in the coal mine for this stuff. So it sort of had to go in that direction." This influence led to a film with a more environmental tone. Miller said, "You can't tell a story about Antarctica and the penguins without giving that dimension."

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films

References

External links

• Official website
• Happy Feet at IMDb
• Happy Feet at AllMovie
• Happy Feet at Rotten Tomatoes
• Happy Feet at Metacritic
• Happy Feet - Review