Happy Feet
****

One thing that Attenborough doesn’t reveal in Planet Earth is quite how thousands of seemingly identical penguins decide on a mate, never mind recognise them after the females have been away fishing for six months whilst the males get really, really chilly. The answer, according to George Miller’s Happy Feet, is that penguins slowly discover their own ‘heart song’ as they grow, and that mating season consists of chains of fantastically sung, interweaving melodies as they search for the perfect match. Surprised? Wait until you discover that these heart songs are drawn from a repertoire of funked-up pop, including the Salt-N-Pepa classic Let’s Talk About Eggs.

Once the initial sequences have given the audience space to accept this bizarre premise, what unfolds is a superbly animated morality tale about valuing others’ differences and the dangers of making assumptions in our drive to protect the environment. Our late-developing hero, Mumble (Elijah Wood), is a down-covered softy who expresses his inner soul through tap dancing, which, according to his father (Hugh Jackman), is ‘just not penguin’. He is blamed for distracting the community from their serene reverence to The Mighty Guin in a time of food shortages. This, of course, leads to his being outcast and experiencing a series of adventures which open his eyes to the ways of the world.

As in most animated tales, the straight-laced hero picks up a series of comedy sidekicks, but it is within these relationships that Happy Feet demonstrates its strengths. The pathos and humour involved as Mumble and his South American gang share both highs and lows is never dumbed-down or patronising, so giving Robin Williams (voicing both Ramón and Lovelace) the scope to explore an emotionally broader canvas in his characterisation than when his unfettered ‘wackiness’ is let loose. As Mumble finally finds the aliens (i.e. humans) he has been searching for, the messages do become a touch more strained and obvious, but this doesn’t distract from what is certainly a unique experience in children’s animation. Give it a go, unless you really object to your favourite Stevie Wonder songs being performed by animated penguins. Which, amazingly, I didn’t.

by Paul Adnitt