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Happy Feet
Warner Bros. // PG // March 27, 2007
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Film:
Since Happy Feet stomped its way to an Academy Award in 2006, several animated films have followed in its footsteps -- both of them. In one corner, we've seen a good number of penguin movies that capture the same cuddly feel-good attitude, like Surf's Up, while in the other corner we've encountered our share of eco-friendly animated films that nail similar messages with more strength and concentration both, such as Wall-E. So, after we've seen both appealing fragments split off and achieve greater things in different spectrums, where does that leave the jazzy little photorealistic tale of a penguin that just wants to dance? Right where it started: a cute, enjoyable slice of Antarctic CG-splendor that topples over itself to slam a message home near the end.
Mumble's search for his "heartsong" can still be pretty charming at first glance. In the Emperor penguin world brought to life by Australia-based studio Animal Logic, the process of discovering each individual penguin's way of singing is both a coming-of-age barrier and the link between two penguins destined to be together. But for poor ole' Mumble (voiced by Elizabeth Daily as a youngin' and Elijah Wood as an "adult"), he's got to find another way to both entice the ladies and discover himself since he was born without the ability to sing. But alas, he's able to .... wait for it ... dance instead of sing, which becomes both an oddity among the community and a way for him to escape some of the frustrations built amid the rookery of flightless birds. All of these happy little mating tug-of-wars coat an ominous starvation threat posed on the penguins, an unexplained riddle that the little "disabled" Mumble sets out to solve.
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As to be expected, Happy Feet becomes a discovery story that revolves around Mumble as he finds his place within the Emperor penguin community. These growth spurts are highlighted by journeys to the Antarctic's frigid expanses, as a range of different characters -- voiced by the likes of Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Weaving, and the immediately-noticeable Robin Williams -- either accompany or hinder his path. Following Mumble blends stripped-down, mundane exposition on the "beat of a different drummer" theme with a slathering of awe-struck gawking at Animal Logic's great animation work, which only carries it to a certain point. Without a shadow of a doubt, each and every ounce of work put into capturing the environment with a realistic eye can be felt. That might be one of the reasons that Happy Feet fails to resonate with some; instead of the off-kilter charm that, say, the clown fish Marlin from Finding Nemo or Sid the Sloth from Ice Age give off, Happy Feet's animation inches so close to realism that it sucks away some of those chances at caricaturist pairings between vocal talent and visual identification.
Still, to this day, the scene where Mumble and his Williams-infused buddies meet face-to-face with a pair of orcas remains one of my favorite pieces of realistic computer animation in cinema. The depth of field created when the whales swim past the focal chunk of ice -- not to mention the introductory moments when we see the mammoth orca standing upright before it capsizes onto the block -- creates a near-unparalleled level of realism. Scenes like this one, along with a big singing number featuring Mumble's beautifully-voiced female friend and a slick, fast-paced swimming bit, build an atmosphere teetering between realism and animation that sways more on this line than most others. Sure, they can be kinda ridiculous, but the way that the animation team injects them with life makes the spilling beauty coming from all that showcased artistry worth soaking in.
The same idea can be attached to Happy Feet's ham-fisted conclusion, though it's a little harder to take its big environmental ka-pow even at mere face value without groaning a bit at the forcefulness behind it all. It splits into two halves: easily digestible animal antics, which are highly likable, and strong tones revolving around the parallels between nature preservation and captivity, which aren't. They're bold, relevant messages, but they thicken the material much too quick -- for both child audiences and adults. In 2006, alongside Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and some abnormally weak competition from Disney/Pixar, that was enough to edge it out as one of the better animated films of the year; however, after seeing it once or twice since, it now works purely as a beautiful showcase for the strengths of computer-generated nature capturing and the weaknesses echoing from weak narrative balanced with overdrawn messages. Happy Feet's still dazzling and endearing, though it's really starting to show its rusting joints in other areas.
The DVD:
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Warner Bros. have fired over a copy of Happy Feet for evaluation, which happens to be the same exact DVD from 2007 without a cardboard slipcover. More than likely, WB wants to keep its presence in the eco-commentary animation world prominent -- which would explain the year-passed additional copy.
Video and Audio:
Like most computer animated features, Happy Feet looks exquisite in both standard-definition and high-definition, which stays true with Warner Bros.' solid 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation presented on this DVD disc. If memory serves me correct, this was an oft-played demo disc for many a display in electronics departments around the time of its release. Colors are rich and details handled with immense concentration, though it's pretty easy to see some scattered instances of digital grain in high-motion sequences and edge enhancement in a few spots (especially with dark set pieces against white backgrounds, which occurs quite a bit). Altogether, Happy Feet still looks extremely slick, even with a few minor digital burps.
Soundwise, we're still working with a adequate Dolby Digital 5.1 EX presentation that fills the stage with plenty of robust effects. Splashing of water and crackling of ice blend with song numbers and vocal clarity with an apt level of contrast, while the lower-frequency channel gets an avid workout. Lines of dialogue never get drowned out in the mess of effects, though the music numbers parallel on an odd level with the rest of the track at certain spots. Altogether, the audio keeps speed with the video presentation well enough to get the point across. French and Spanish EX tracks are also available, as are optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Special Features:
Most of the supplemental features available are mostly geared towards children, only sporting one or two add-ons that'll spark adult interest. We've got the three-minute Mumble Meets a Blue Whale (3:07) and a 29-second Happy Feet Moment (0:29) that carry over the animation from the film onto two added little bits, while a Dance Like a Penguin (5:21) featurette shows off how you can dance like Mumble.
On the second page of options, there's a few Music Videos to round out the surface-level supplements. Then, we reach the two special features worth the time: there's an 8-minute WB cartoon entitled "I Love To Singa" (8:12) that features early bird animation that blends with the singing theme, along with a Theatrical Trailer to close up shop. Considering the fact that the animation credits stretch for days, all these supplements are certainly lacking in the substance department.
Final Thoughts:
As a sweet and kid-friendly eco picture, Happy Feet can still be smooth family entertainment -- even though its big tidal wave of a conclusion crashes against its watchers a little hard. With fine voice acting and gorgeous animation, it still shows off why it received all the accolades it did in 2006. WB's standard-definition disc still looks and sounds great, though the special features are rather weak, which sets this package up as a solid Rental since the replay value crumbles rather quickly after a few views.
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