Happy Feet (2006)

Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!

Directors:

George Miller, Warren Coleman (co-director)

Writers:

George Miller, John Collee

Stars:

Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman

Won 1 Oscar. Another 19 wins & 26 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carlos Alazraqui	...	Nestor (voice)
Lombardo Boyar	...	Raul (voice)
Jeffrey Garcia	...	Rinaldo (voice) (as Jeff Garcia)
Johnny A. Sanchez	...	Lombardo (voice) (as Johnny Sanchez III)
Robin Williams	...	Ramon / Lovelace (voice)
Elijah Wood	...	Mumble (voice)
Brittany Murphy	...	Gloria (voice)
Hugh Jackman	...	Memphis (voice)
Nicole Kidman	...	Norma Jean (voice)
Hugo Weaving	...	Noah the Elder (voice)
Elizabeth Daily	...	Baby Mumble (voice) (as E.G. Daily)
Magda Szubanski	...	Miss Viola (voice)
Miriam Margolyes	...	Mrs. Astrakhan (voice)
Fat Joe	...	Seymour (voice)
Alyssa Shafer	...	Baby Gloria (voice)

Storyline

This is the story of a little penguin named Mumble who has a terrible singing voice and later discovers he has no Heartsong. However, Mumble has an astute talent for something that none of the penguins had ever seen before: tap dancing. Though Mumble's mom, Norma Jean, thinks this little habit is cute, his dad, Memphis, says it "just ain't penguin." Besides, they both know that, without a Heartsong, Mumble may never find true love. As fate would have it, his one friend, Gloria, happens to be the best singer around. Mumble and Gloria have a connection from the moment they hatch, but she struggles with his strange "hippity- hoppity" ways. Mumble is just too different--especially for Noah the Elder, the stern leader of Emperor Land, who ultimately casts him out of the community. Away from home for the first time, Mumble meets a posse of decidedly un-Emperor-like penguins--the Adelie Amigos. Led by Ramon, the Adelies instantly embrace Mumble's cool dance moves and invite him to party with...

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Plot Keywords:

anthropomorphic penguin | singing animal | singing penguin | warner bros. | penguin | 

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Taglines:

The only film that has people dancing in the aisles

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Music | Musical | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild peril and rude humor

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [France] Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Happy Feet: The IMAX Experience

Filming Locations:

Fox Studios, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$41,533,432, 19 November 2006

Gross USA:

$198,000,317

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$384,335,608

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Kennedy Miller Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels) Dolby Digital EX DTS-ES

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33.1 (dvd)

Did You Know?

Trivia

In order to tell the difference between the male and female emperor penguins, look at their beaks. If it has an orange spot, it's a male. If the spot is pink, it's a female. Also, the golden crest on the "breast" areas anthropomorphically correspond to gender differences.

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Goofs

When the Adelies and Lovelace are involved in the killer whale attack on the frozen buoy, Mumble surfaces. When he starts speeding up, there's no wake seen behind him.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Penguin #1: [singing] Once there was a way to get back homeward.
Penguin #2: [singing] Are the stars out tonight?
Penguin #1: [singing] Once there was a way to get back home.
Penguin #2: [singing] I only have eyes for you.
Penguin #1: [singing] Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry.
Penguin #2: [singing] For you.
Penguin #1: [singing] And I will sing a lullaby.
Penguin #3: [singing] With a song in my heart.
Penguin #4: [singing] So tell me / Tell me something good / Yeah, yeah, yeah / Tell me that you love me. / Tell me, baby. / Tell me something good.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, Ramon pops his head up out of the iris and says "Gracias".

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Connections

Referenced in My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Frog Principal/Meet the Spidermonkeys (2007)

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Soundtracks

Only You (and You Alone)
Written by Buck Ram and Ande Rand
Hollis Music, Inc / Robert Mellin Inc / Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc.

User Reviews

First half is much better than the second

Overall, I enjoyed this movie and don't regret having gone to see it. I feel like the animators, actors doing voices and Savion Glover (hope I spelled that right!) wasted some of their efforts on an inferior-quality script.

I admire the environmental theme, but felt like it was being shoved down our throats .. with no real solutions suggested, either. Some portions of the script were not explained well .. like how on earth Mumbles got back from the zoo to his family. Okay .. and why can't Mumble molt correctly, and why does his face look different from all of the other adult penguins? That's never explained, either.

I laughed and smiled my way through the first half of the movie, and it felt like the second half dragged on endlessly and made little sense. :-< I was expecting to love this movie a lot more than I did.