We went to the Drive In the other night and saw Happy Feet. I commented on my blog that I didn’t like it and Kristal asked me why. Here are my thoughts.

Please bear in mind that this is MY OPINION and I’m sure there will be others who will disagree. That’s fine too…but this is my opinion. Feel free to leave your own review if you like.

Happy Feet is a lively, fast-paced musical animation abut penguins. I didn’t realise it was a full scale musical so was a little taken aback. However, I tend to love many musicals and animations so figured I’d get over it…but I didn’t. I have been asked what I didn’t like about it, so here goes:

Overall the movie was okay. Pretty heavy on the environmental push but I guess I can live with that. :-/ I was disappointed in the films music- I love music and I especially like older songs but would’ve preferred to see an original score (eg: Beauty & the Beast, Cinderella, Jungle Book, Aladdin, etc). I also did not appreciate the s*xual undertones in some scenes. Now, I know that animals mate…but it doesn’t have to be humanised as that’s when it turns into something twisted and not nice and not appropriate. While dancing around, they looked s*xual, which even feels weird to say seeing that I’m talking about animated penguins!!!

eg: There is a song between prospective partners and the main line is,
?You don?t have to be beautiful to turn me on, I just need your body, baby, from dusk till dawn.?
Pfft, this is not what I teach my children!!!!
Another song is taken from the modern one with the line, ?Let?s talk about sex, baby.? Although the line is changed slightly and the S word removed..

Okay, so what else didn’t I like? Well, I thought it had a few digs at Christianity. I could be wrong and being overly sensitive but I thought that the elders (Elder Penguin) were satirical. They told the masses that they need to return to the way of old and believe in ‘The Quin’ and that The Quin won’t bless and prosper them unless they do this. It all sounded very religious to me and I feel it was a dig.

There was another character who I didn’t like. Sure he acted like a tele-evangelist but it just didn’t need to be there, in my opinion. I question why it was there? Do children really need to see and know this? I think not.

I thought it was similar in one way to ‘Footloose‘ but one can only watch a penguin dance so many times!!!! (I actually found more positive discussions arose from Footloose with my teens)

Some young or sensitive children may find one or two scenes scary so be warned.

Mumble (the main character) had a lovely spirit and attitude. He was respectfully obedient, positive and humble. I liked this way his mother saw his differences as qualities to be celebrated not squashed yet overall I was disappointed with the movie. If I previewed it first, I wouldn’t have watched it with my children.

If I were you, I’d check out some trusted review sites and if you decide to watch it, make sure you have some solid discussions with your child about it all.

Kids in Mind

Christian Answers