Happy Feet Review

Happy Feet


Release Date: 26th December 2006 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Village Roadshow Pictures (in association with)

Kennedy Miller Productions

Animal Logic (in association with)

Kingdom Feature Productions

Distribution
Roadshow Films

Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 106 minutes

Budget: $100,000,000

Box Office Gross: $384,336,108 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

Every Emperor penguin is

born to sing a heart song

that will attract a soul mate.

All except Mumble, who

cannot sing but, it so

happens, that he can

dance, tap dance.

Eventually, such un-

penguin-like behaviour

causes Mumble to get
kicked out of his home
and into the big cold world.
Far from home for the first

time, Mumble meets a

group of decidedly un-

Emperor-like penguins -

the Adele Amigos. The
Adelies, led by Ramon,

are immediately taken
with Mumble's cool dance

moves and invite him to

join the party. In the land

of Adelie, Mumble seeks

the advice of Lovelace the

Guru, a crazy-feathered

rockhopper penguin who

will answer all of life's

questions for the price of

a pebble. Together with

Adelie Amigos and

Lovelace, Mumble sets

out on a journey of epic

proportions, proving that

staying true to oneself is

the only way to change

the world.

Voice Cast

Elijah Wood - Mumble

Brittany Murphy - Gloria

Hugh Jackman - Memphis

Nicole Kidman - Norma Jean

Hugo Weaving - Noah the Elder

Robin Williams - Ramon/Lovelace

Carlos Alazraqui - Nestor

Lombardo Boyar - Raul

Jeffrey Garcia - Rinaldo

Johnny A. Sanchez - Lombardo

Miriam Margoyles - Mrs. Astrakhan

Fat Joe - Seymour

Elizabeth Daily - Baby Mumble

Alyssa Safer - Baby Gloria
Anthony LaPagia - Boss Skua
Magda Szubanski - Miss Viola
Danny Mann - Dino/Zoo Penguin
Mark Klastorin - Vinnie
Michael Cornacchia - Frankie
Steve Irwin - Trev
Nick McKay - Nev
Tiriel Mora - Kev
Richard Carter - Barry
Dee Bradley Baker - Maurice
Roger Rose - Leopard Seal

Crew

Writer/Producer/Director - George Miller

Writers/Co-Producers/Co-Directors -

Warren Coleman and Judy Morris

Writer - John Collee

Associate Producer/First Assistant Director:

Motion Capture - Philip Hearnshaw

Associate Producers - Hael Kobayashi,

Michael Twigg and Matthew Ferro

Executive Producers - Bruce Berman,
Graham Burke, Dana Goldberg and Ed Jones

Line Producer - Martin Wood

Producers - Bill Miller and Doug Mitchell
Production Designer - Mark Sexton

Supervising Art Director/Visual Effects

Supervisor - David Nelson

Art Director - Simon Whiteley

Art Director: Additional Film Unit -

Colin Gibson
Additional Art Direction - David Woodland

Additional Art Direction & VFX Supervision/

Producer: Animal Logic - Zareh Nalbandian

Set Decorator/Surfacing & Digital Matte

Supervisor - Jean-Pascal LeBlanc

Layout & Camera Director - David Peers
Director of Photography: Additional Film Unit -

Andrew Lesnie

Digital Production Manager - Amber Naismith

First Assistant Director - P.J. Voeten

First Assistant Director: Additional Film Unit -

Colin Fletcher

Choreographer & Principal Performer - Kelley Abbey

Dancer/Choreographer: Mumble/Motion Capture

Principal - Savion Glover

Animation Director - Daniel Jeannette

Digital Crowd Director - Greg Van Borssum

Lighting/Additional Effects Supervisor - Ben Gunsberger 

Character Supervisor - Aidan Sarsfield

Supervising Character Technical Director -

Damien Gray

Motion Capture Supervisors - Greg Allen
and Francois Laroche

Lead Character Artist/Animation Supervisor -

Don Ezard

Lead Environmental Artist - Nick Pill

Senior Animation Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -

Lyndon Barrois

Animation Supervisors: Rhythm & Hues -

Michael Holzl and Matt Logue

Visual Effects Supervisor - Morgane Furio

Visual Effects Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -

Todd Shifflett

Visual Effects Supervisor: Giant Killer Robots -

Peter Oberdorfer

Digital/Additional Effects Supervisor - Brett Feeney

Digital Supervisors: Rhythm & Hues - Markus Kurtz

and Mike O'Neal

Associate Digital Supervisor - Olivier Ozoux
Head of R&D/Additional Effects Supervisor -

Chris Bone
Composting Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues - Sean McPherson

Editors - Christian Gazal and
Margaret Sixel

Editor: World Debate - Matt Villa
Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor/

Re-Recording Mixer - Wayne Pashley

Re-Recording Mixers - Phil Heywood

and Greg Fitzgerald

Additional Re-Recording Mixers - Phil Judd,

Peter Purcell, Robert Sullivan and

Martin Oswin

Foley Artist - John Simpson

Music - John Powell

Music Supervisor - Christine Woodruff

Score Recordist and Mixer - Shawn Murphy

Awards

2007 Academy Awards
Best Animated Feature - George Miller (Won)

Review
HAPPY FEET was a great family movie. It had excellent cover songs and was charming, funny and sad for everyone, including penguin lovers. The film had a terrific storyline that was a bit like Footloose but sent an environmental message about overfishing and the damage it is causing. HAPPY FEET's factors that I praise include the motion-capture animation that brought the tap-dancing penguins to life, the direction by George Miller and the voice cast of Elijah Wood, Hugh Jackman, the late Brittany Murphy and Robin Williams. It changed the reputation of animation produced in Australia. It's the only movie to feature the voice of Steve Irwin (you have known him as the Aussie icon "The Crocodile Hunter"), who died before the film was released.

For those of you who have enjoyed and seen HAPPY FEET, you'll find that its sequel, Happy Feet Two, is not as good as the original. My advice is simple: go back and rewatch the first movie. To those who want to see HAPPY FEET, it'll convince you that penguins can dance.

Star rating: (4/5) Good Movie

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