The Emperor (Penguin) Has No Clothes

[rj_anderson]

For the sake of those unaccustomed with my peculiar sense of humor, I just thought I should mention that the previous entry complaining about my f-list's failings was meant as a joke. In no way do I regard the members of my esteemed f-list as minions. For one thing, that would be arrogant in the extreme; and for another, it would make the winged monkeys terribly jealous.

Now that's cleared up, I just want to mention that I watched Happy Feet for the first time last night and was surprised to find it tedious. Not because it was anti-religious or militantly environmentalist, which were a couple of the criticisms I'd heard levelled at the film by the (very few) critics who disparaged it -- I didn't think either of those criticisms particularly valid. No, I just thought the plot wasn't up to much, and there was way too much singing and dancing and not enough actual stuff happening, considering the length of the movie. Proof of this, I think, is that both my seven-year-old and my five-year-old got bored and walked away halfway through, before coming back some twenty minutes later and asking without much enthusiasm, "Did I miss anything?" To which the answer was, "Not really."

Sure, the film had lots of funny moments, but I'd seen them all before in previews, and many of them were aimed at adults rather than kids. Overall, I think we made the right choice when we took our kids to see Flushed Away in the theatre instead, and saved this one for the DVD release. Visually impressive on a technical level, yes; a great family film, not so much.

I wouldn't mind seeing March of the Penguins one of these days, though.

Comments

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

But I wanted to be one of your minions!! (Further proof that you can't please everyone. ;))

I really enjoyed March of the Penguins, and wanted to see Happy Feet, but never got around to it. I suppose I'll Netflix it here eventually...

[honorh.livejournal.com]

I didn't care for Happy Feet, either. Felt like it was preachy and tedious.

Yep.

[(Anonymous)]

Preachy: Check. Boring/Tedious: Check.

Although not exactly cerebral, Surf's Up was a fun animated Penguin movie.

Like, what's with the Penguin thing anyways? next year, Pixar, and Dreamworks, and everybody are going to decide that the Thing this year is Dinosaurs. And then, we'll have a glut of dino-movies.

Oooh ooh ooh! How about Pirates, Penguins, Sharks, and Dinosaurs, all in one movie! Yeeah! Green light me, Hollywood, 'cos uncle Warren's about to make a moooveee...

W

[durayan.livejournal.com]

Happy Feet is a marvelous bore the toddler to sleep flick, with cute penguins. It works.

[thremma.livejournal.com]

I didn't like it either; my husband did. I think he liked the music (which I thought was only middling to blech). I felt the whole time like, "is it done yet?" I like music fine - but I also like there to be a plot. This whole movie could have been condensed down to about twenty minutes.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly.

[camillofan.livejournal.com]

After I'd seen it (and I concede that it really was something to look at on the big screen!), I heard Happy Feet described by some reviewer or other as "a soda commercial in search of a product." Too funny, and too apt! While impressed by the technical achievement of the Savion Glover motion capture, I thought the movie lacked a heart, and I was disappointed when it won the Oscar.

For me (and you can just call me C.S. Lewis here, because he made the same complaint about Tom Sawyer), the fatal flaw was having the central character be a perpetual child on the one hand, and a would-be lover on the other. Like Will Ferrell's Elf: ick, ick, ick

I reviewed it last Fall here (http://camillofan.livejournal.com/43408.html).

[bexm30.livejournal.com]

I did not see Happy Feet - maybe I will skip it. So, just curious, did you see CHarlotte's Web (the recent) and like it? I thought it was ok, but I missed about 10 min. of it. We also saw Babel this week (odd combo, I know) and it was very different.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you'll enjoy "March of the Penguins" when you get to it - it's well worth seeing. A possible word of warning: my older nephew, ten at the time, went with my parents when it was in the theaters. His review: "That was the saddest movie I ever saw." I understand where he was coming from.

But it is worth seeing.