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	Page 10: krs Review: Go See Happy Feet! January 20, 2007

Rating: Four Stars

Best Part: Robin Williams as the oversexed Guru Hippie Penguin
Worst Part: It's allllll good.

Happy Feet was the LAST -- the absolute last movie I wanted to see this month. Penguins? My favorite Penguin was played by Burgess Meredith in the 60's. He smoked a long cigarette on a holder, wore a monocle, made cool "WAAAKK WAKK WAKK!" sounds, and did everything in his power to conquer the Caped Crusader through ridiculous Penguin Plots. And while he was always surrounded by a bevy of penguin beauties, I always thought he had some thang for the Boy Wonder. Purely speculation on my part, to be sure, but sometimes you just have to go with a hunch. But as far as I'm concerned, The Penguin that was THE PINNACLE of PENGUIN performance. NO ONE is going to do better, so I have no interest in seeing a bunch of computer animated penguins prancing around the screen doing Gawd Knows What. They don't even smoke, the little fish eating nitwits. What kind of entertainment is that?

So I was COMPLETELY horrified, HORRIFIED, when Kathy announced that we were going to see "Happy Feet" for the twins' birthday along with some of their cartoon-penguin lovin' little friends. I secretly planned all kinds of subversive plans in my mind to get out of it -- "duck" out to see some other movie, or maybe a tragic crotch-scalding popcorn incident during previews... But my sense of parental duty won out, and I found myself sitting in a movie theater with a ticket stub that said "Happy Feet!" in big black letters., "General," I said to the commander of the tiny brigade that runs my brain, "prepare for Slumber Mode! I am taking us to BoringConOne! Set breathing to COMA!" "Aye Sir!" he barked back, and I could hear tiny buttons and levers being pressed as I was prepared for a near shutdown complete with Loud Snoring during this waste of projected light. After then, there it was...up on the big screen… "H A P P Y F E E T!" Okay, I'm gonna say it. Here it comes. I'm going to say it! I'm going to say it right now -- ready? I'm gonna… JUST DO IT: I was wrong.

JEEEMINY H. JUMPIN CRICKET! That's right. I was totally wrong about this movie. Because as it turns out, I *LOVED* Happy Feet! And considering how much I hated it before I ever saw it, this pretty much falls into the category of Major Miracle, the kind that some future Pope will venerate, although I must admit that the only Weeping Icon was my nose prior to the show, and that was mainly due to our seasonal Cedar Fever.

So I am here to tell you: GO SEE HAPPY FEET. IT IS A GREAT FILM. It is nothing like what you think it is going to be. No, it's not a silly documentary. No, there are no "gay penguins," contrary to some ridiculous popular Extreme Ring Wing nonsense. Happy Feet reminded me of "Footloose," the 80's iconic movie about the teenager who just wanted to dance amidst the scowls of the fuddy-duddy Methodist minister, which in hindsight is ridiculous, because the Methodists always dance. It's the Baptists who usually don't dance, unless they're hopping mad about those liberal Methodists. That angry little hopping maneuver does, I must say, look quite a bit like a dance. But I'll reminisce on small town Baptist stuff later.

But what I loved about this movie is the real message: about somebody different who finds themself -- and decides to just be themselves no matter what. Mumbles is a dancing penguin who is born into a culture of singing penguins -- where dancing "just isn't right." But Mumbles can't sing a lick; in fact, his singing threatens to tear out ear-drums. This movie is about Mumbles growing up in a society that is very much against him, and how he comes to be happy with being his own person and doing his own thing.

So there is the sexy girl penguin, who every Penguin guy wants to be with, but who you just know is going to end up with Mumbles. And there is this critical scene where, after much bad juju, it's time for those love kittens to get together. All Mumbles has to do is acquiesce a bit, keep his honkin' beak shut, and Get The Girl! And the music swells, and … Mumbles says NO! That's right -- Mumbles doesn't take The Girl. He takes his own path. Great music -- truly good music, these Penguins sing Detroit Motown to current R&B Top 40. Fantastic animation; it's amazing how far they have come. SEE THIS ON THE BIG SCREEN; it won't be the same on your television on DVD. The animated cinematography is beautiful. And there are a ton of voice talents:Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Robin Williams… it's all good! Four Stars, krs says GO SEE HAPPY FEET!


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