'Happy Feet's' cool tap-dancing feats could step out further musically

Friday, November 17, 2006

By GIANNI TRUZZI
SPECIAL TO THE P-I

When newly hatched Mumble feels his first urges to tap dance, his emperor penguin father discourages him. "That's just not penguin," he frowns.

MOVIE REVIEW

HAPPY FEET

DIRECTOR: George Miller

CAST: Voices of Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy

RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes

RATING: PG for some mild peril and rude humor

GRADE: B-

LINKS/TRAILERS
· Official site

PHOTO GALLERY

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Sound parental advice, perhaps, but it seems an odd criticism after watching the herd's stars croon pop tunes with overheated melisma and hip-swiveling moves.

The computer-rendered, fast-moving fable "Happy Feet" floods an urban backbeat, beginning when soon-to-be-mom Norma Jean (voiced by Nicole Kidman) shimmies her mating dance to Prince's "Kiss," and is answered by the "Heartbreak Hotel" of Memphis (Hugh Jackman, channeling Elvis). Real emperor penguins bob during their mating song. Here they shimmy to Pink, the Beach Boys and Grandmaster Flash, as if the Animal Planet channel were bizarrely scrambled with the signal from VH1.

It's into this Top 40 bliss that Mumble (voiced as a juvenile by Elijah Wood) is born, a penguin who screeches instead of sings but can't stop tapping his feet (provided by a motion-captured Savion Glover). The misfit tale follows a well-worn arc, familiar to director George Miller, who produced the charming "Babe."

Spurned by his peers, Mumble finds friendship from a gang of compact Adelie penguins, wiseacre cholos led by Ramon (Robin Williams) who think his hoofing is cool and are eager to help him capture the heart of sweetheart Gloria (Brittany Murphy).

Unfortunately, once the "be yourself" story line is resolved (singing and dancing go together, who would have guessed?), the film is only half over. Having run out of its initial steam, it then grasps for a reason to continue.

Mumble is cast out by the grizzled religious leader (Hugo Weaving in a Calvinist Scotsman's burr), certain that his dancing has offended the Great 'Guin and caused the dearth of fish. With the aid of seer penguin Lovelace (Williams again), Mumble embarks on a quest to find the "aliens" -- humans, of course -- that have been overfishing the Antarctic waters, and thereby lurches to an environmental theme.

Kids certainly won't be bothered by this, and "Happy Feet" offers the action, gags and warmth they expect to keep them amused. As a parent, however, I thought my middle-schooler was being groomed to be a good conformist consumer, first of penguin plush toys and ultimately of mainstream pop. Glover's tap-dancing is marvelous, but where is the jazz that inspired it, blues, folk or even opera?

With its photorealistic rendering of beautiful Antarctic landscapes and zoom-outs of Earth hanging in space, this cheerful diversion suggests the vastness of the world. It's a shame, then, that its musical world is so small.

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