Happy Feet
Happy Feet is a 2006 animated jukebox musical comedy film directed and produced by George Miller and written by Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris, and Warren Coleman. It stars the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Anthony LaPaglia, Magda Szubanski and Steve Irwin. An international co-production between the United States and Australia, the film was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, and Kingdom Feature Productions. It is the first animated film produced by Kennedy Miller and Animal Logic. Set in the cold land of Antarctica, the film follows Mumble (Wood), an emperor penguin who is able to tap dance brilliantly despite his lacking the ability to sing the heartsong to attract a soul mate. After being continuously ridiculed and rejected by peers and his own father (Jackman), Mumble departs on a journey to learn what is causing the local fish population to decline — and to find himself along the way.
This article is about the 2006 film. For other uses, see Happy Feet (disambiguation).Happy Feet
- George Miller
- John Collee
- Judy Morris
- Warren Coleman
- Bill Miller
- George Miller
- Doug Mitchell
David Peers
- Christian Gazal
- Margaret Sixel
- Village Roadshow Pictures
- Animal Logic
- Kennedy Miller Productions
- Kingdom Feature Productions
- Warner Bros. Pictures
(Worldwide) - Roadshow Films
(Australia/New Zealand)[1]
- November 17, 2006 (United States)
- December 26, 2006 (Australia)
108 minutes
- United States
- Australia[2]
English
$100 million[3]
$384.3 million[3]
Miller cites as an initial inspiration for the film an encounter with a grizzled old cameraman, whose father was Frank Hurley of the Shackleton expeditions, while partially inspired by earlier documentaries such as the BBC's Life in the Freezer. Though primarily a computer-animated film, the film does incorporate motion capture of live action humans in certain scenes. Composer John Powell composed the score while the film features more than 10 songs from famous artists, mostly to fit with the mood of the scene or character.
Happy Feet was released in North American theaters on 17 November 2006, and in Australian theaters on 26 December 2006, which was simultaneously released in both conventional theatres and in IMAX 2D format.[4] The studio had hinted that a future IMAX 3D release was a possibility. However, Warner Bros., the film's production company, was on too tight a budget to release Happy Feet in IMAX digital 3D.[5]
Happy Feet received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for its visuals, storyline and songs, and grossed $384 million against its $100 million production budget, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2006. It earned the recipient of the inaugural BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, and the fourth non-Disney or Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[6] It was nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film, both losing to Cars. A sequel, Happy Feet Two, was released in 2011.
Plot
Every emperor penguin attracts a mate by singing a unique "heartsong". If the male penguin's heartsong matches the female's song, the two penguins mate. Norma Jean, a female penguin, falls for Memphis, a male penguin and they become mates. They lay an egg, which Memphis cares for while Norma Jean leaves with the other females to fish. While the males struggle through the harsh winter, Memphis briefly drops the egg. The resulting chick, Mumble, is unable to sing but can tap dance. Nevertheless, he is enamored with Gloria, a female penguin who is regarded as the most talented of her age. One day, Mumble encounters a group of hostile skua, with a leader who is tagged with a yellow band, which he says is from an alien abduction. Mumble narrowly escapes the hungry birds by falling into a crevice.
Now a young adult, Mumble is frequently ridiculed by the elders and their leader Noah. After escaping from a leopard seal attack, Mumble befriends five Adelie penguins named Ramón, Nestor, Lombardo, Rinaldo and Raul, known collectively as "the Amigos", who embrace Mumble's dance moves and assimilate him into their group. After seeing a hidden human excavator in an avalanche, they opt to ask Lovelace, a rockhopper penguin, about its origin. Lovelace has the plastic rings of a six pack entangled around his neck, saying that they have been bestowed upon him by mystic beings.
For the emperor penguins, it is mating season and Gloria is the center of attention. The Amigos unsuccessfully attempt to help Mumble win her affection by having Ramón sing a Spanish version of "My Way" behind Mumble, with the latter lip syncing. After Mumble desperately begins tap dancing in synch with her song, she falls for him and the youthful penguins join in for singing and dancing to "Boogie Wonderland". The elders are appalled by Mumble's conduct, which they see as the reason for their lean fishing season. Memphis begs Mumble to stop dancing, for his own sake, but when Mumble refuses, he is exiled.
Mumble and the Amigos return to Lovelace, only to find him being choked by the plastic rings. Lovelace confesses they were snagged on him while swimming off the forbidden shores, beyond the land of the elephant seals. Not long into their journey, Gloria encounters them, wishing to become Mumble's mate. Fearing for her safety, he ridicules Gloria, driving her away.
At the forbidden shore, Mumble, Lovelace and the Amigos are attacked by two orcas, during which Lovelace gets free from the plastic rings. After escaping, they find a fishing boat. Mumble exhaustingly pursues it alone, eventually washing up on the shore of Florida, where he is rescued and kept at Sea World with Magellanic penguins. After a long and secluded confinement in addition to fruitlessly trying to communicate with the humans, he nearly succumbs to madness. When a girl attempts to interact with Mumble by tapping the glass, he starts dancing, which attracts a large crowd. He is released back into the wild, with a tracking device attached to his back. He returns to his colony and challenges the will of the elders. Memphis reconciles with him, just as a research team arrives, verifying Mumble's statements of "aliens" existing. The entire colony engages in dance in front of the research team, whose expedition footage prompts a worldwide debate, which eventually leads to the banning of all Antarctic overfishing, satisfying both the emperor penguins and the Amigos.
Happy Feet: Music from the Motion Picture
31 October 2006
47:47
Reception
Box office
The film opened at number one in the United States on its first weekend of release (17–19 November), grossing $41.6 million and beating Casino Royale for the top spot.[17][18] 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.[19] As of 8 June 2008, Happy Feet had grossed $198.0 million in the US and Canada, and $186.3 million in other countries, making about $384.3 million worldwide. Happy Feet was the third highest grossing animated film of 2006 in the US, behind Cars and Ice Age: The Meltdown. The film was released in about 35 territories at the close of 2006.[20][21]
The production budget was $100 million.[3]
Critical reception
Happy Feet received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 76% approval rating based on 170 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's consensus reads, "Visually dazzling, with a thoughtful storyline and catchy musical numbers, Happy Feet marks a successful animated debut from the makers of Babe."[22] Metacritic reports a 77 out of 100 rating, based on 30 critics.[23] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[24]
Marjorie Baumgarten, film critic for The Austin Chronicles, wrote a positive review, saying "Happy Feet treads material common to kids films and cartoons, most notably Dumbo: A young animal stands out from his herd or flock because of his inability to perform like the other animals, although he seemingly compensates for this defect by demonstrating a certain skill that sets him apart from the others, who ostracize him for his weirdness." Baumgarten also says the CGI re-creation at Antarctica are "stunning, allowing the film to shift among glorious long shots of the ice and penguin population and midshots and close-ups of the character interactions".[25] James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, praised its musical numbers (particularly "Kiss" and "Boogie Wonderland") and Robin Williams's performance by awarding the film three out of four, saying "The ingredients for greatness are there. It's too bad the movie lost its way on the approach to the finish line. I recommend Happy Feet, but not as enthusiastically as I wish I could."[26]
Analysis
Film critic Yar Habnegnal wrote an essay 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, such as religious hierarchy and interracial tensions.[27] Vadim Rizov of IFC sees Mumble as just the latest in a long line of cinematic religious mavericks. Some Christians have also considered the film to be anti-Christian (or antireligious in general) due to the imagery and behaviours of various characters.[28][29]
On a technical or formal level, the film has also been recognised for its innovative introduction of Miller's roving style of subjective cinematography into contemporary animation.
Home media
Happy Feet was released on home media on 27 March 2007,[30] 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 pack.[31] Overall, Happy Feet was the third best-selling film of 2007 with 12.2 million units sold and earning a revenue of $196.9 million.[32]
Among the DVD's special features is a scene that was cut from the film where Mumble meets a blue whale and an albatross while pursuing the fishing boat. 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 Irwin's memory. This scene is done in documentary style, with the albatross describing the other characters in the scene, and the impact people are having on their environment. Another special feature included with the DVD is the 1936 Merrie Melodies short I Love to Singa.