Happy Feet

[Ben]

I am soooo intrigued to go and see this. I was going to wait, based on James response and another from a friend of mine who works in post production and saw it a month ago and told to "beware!", but the crazy haphazard sound of all this has got me itching to see it on the big screen...

[Meg]

I think if you know what to expect, it won't be as much of shock. Again, I really liked it, but some parts were pretty strange.

[James]

That's the point I made earlier. None of you will have the same reaction I did because you are now expecting it. I went in expecting the cute little movie we've seen in the ads for months.

Again, my point. They purposely are deceiving us in the ads. If they promoted this for what it actually is not as many people would go see it.

[Dacey]

I am soooo intrigued to go and see this. I was going to wait, based on James response and another from a friend of mine who works in post production and saw it a month ago and told to "beware!", but the crazy haphazard sound of all this has got me itching to see it on the big screen...

SEE IT! Give in to the dancing penguins!

[Meg]

They purposely are deceiving us in the ads.

That's one of the biggest things that bugged me....

The live-action humans were pretty odd, too, but I guess that was better than having creepy photo-real animated ones. And I highly doubt a penguin would be able to swim across thousands of open ocean without stopping!

Again, it had its problems, but overall I found it a fun ride, and the music sequences were fantastic. Ramon was very funny as well.

[Ben]

I will have to go see this. I'll catch it in the cheap seats at a smaller theater around the corner from me I think.

I liked the humans in Ice Age...a nice balance of going for "real" primitive appearance, and naturalistic. Will be watching out for the humans in this one now, though I don't think the penguins are as "realistic" as everyone, including the critics, are saying.

No-one's mistaking this for a <I>March Of The Penguins</I> type film are they?

[James]

No-one's mistaking this for a <I>March Of The Penguins</I> type film are they?

Just the film makers! That is another film this one is trying to be.

[Ben]

[James]

Oh how I wish I were exaggerating! After beginning with the just plain awful Moulin Rouge intro, we move in the March Of The Penguins documentary section before heading to some 70's type high school graduation type movie! Then it starts going down hill!

[ShyViolet]

After beginning with the just plain awful Moulin Rouge intro,

?????????





AND THIS is the same movie that people think might win Best Animated Film?!

OK, maybe I'm being a bit harsh...but this film sounds even weirder than anything Don Bluth could dream up!

[Meg]

Well, you should probably see it first before criticizing people for liking it...

[Dacey]

If it were a DW film, Vi would've seen it by now.

[Ben]

Once a week!

[ShyViolet]

[ShyViolet]

Finally saw this movie tonight and what can I say--I know James and I don't very often agree (j/k ) but he was dead right about this flick.

On the one hand I can see why it won Best Animated film, since it had a few quite dark scenes very different from what we've seen in recent animated films.

But that's it.

The Penguins all looked exactly alike--I literally had trouble telling many of them apart. They moved like robots basically, the Penguins in Batman Returns were more compelling to watch.

Their expressions and face movements were putrid. I think the animators were just told to give them three looks--happy, sad, and excited. Just so painful and exhausting trying to get involved in their "emotions". Meant nothing to me at all.

Way too photorealisitc--I guess it was intended that way--I almost wanted to pick them up or pet them--but I didn't bond with them in the way you'd feel for a full-blooded cartoon character. I just felt like I was at the zoo.

Robin Williams: for the love of God please do not do another animated voice. Or at least do something different. Hey, why not an animated bad guy for a change? That might be very cool, you were great at it in live action so why not animation?I know you have your "reasons" for not working with Disney or Dreamworks, but they might actually have a better part for you than this tired nth generation copy of Genie. It got old in Fern Gully, Robin!!

Bursting out in song whenever something got a bit complex or emotional was a ridiculous cop-out.

The environmental theme was tired, but they could have done it well, with a fresh approach. The "dancing" idea was just awful. It made no sense and totally screwed with the audience. The whole film felt like Lion King meets An Inconvenient Truth, AND,re: the classic EB White book The Trumpet of the Swan, they really did steal from that book. A lot. At least I thought so. Read it and tell me I'm wrong.

The whole animal crowd dances together thing was done in Ice Age 2--and WAYYYYYY better.



OK stuff I liked--there was a minimal amount but here it goes--I liked the darker scenes, a bit disturbing, and well done. Some action scenes were great, especially the avalanche down the hill, that kicked a**!!
Exciting. It all looked way too real though, like the whole film. It was one big VFX. And the same colors again and again--Black. White. Blue. Black. White. Blue. Black. White. Blue.

I loved Memphis though. Hugh Jackman...so great.

I don't know who played Mumble's love interest, but she did a terrible job. You could so see her reading from a script in a studio. (EDIT: It was Nicole Kidman. Oh brother. Need I say more? ) And how they tried to make the female Penguins have more of a "chest" than the male ones so you could tell them apart....icky!!

Lastly--I thought the whole thing about "stealing their fish" was really stupid. Of course we "steal" their fish, we have to eat somehow. Are we supposed to check every time we take fish from the Arctic to make sure there's enough left for Penguins? What about all the starving people in so many countries out there? They could sure use a lot of that fish. What are humans supposed to live on if they can't eat fish (or meat for that matter?) Plants? Oh, but won't that kill the ecosystem--who's going to produce our oxygen?

Anways, I guess you can tell I didn't care much for this flick--at least I finally saw it though.