Happy Feet
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| Happy Feet | |
 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | George Miller Warren Coleman Judy Morris |
|---|---|
| Produced by | George Miller Doug Mitchell Bill Miller |
| Written by | Warren Coleman John Collee George Miller Judy Morris |
| Starring | Elijah Wood Robin Williams Brittany Murphy Hugh Jackman Nicole Kidman |
| Music by | John Powell Gia Farrell |
| Cinematography | David Peers |
| Editing by | Christian Gazal Margaret Sixel |
| Studio | Animal Logic Kennedy-Miller Productions Village Roadshow Pictures Warner Bros. Animation |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures Kennedy-Miller Productions |
| Release date(s) | United States November 17, 2006 Australia December 26, 2006 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $100 million |
| Gross revenue | $384,335,608 |
Happy Feet is a 2006 Australian-American computer-animated comedy-drama film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and Kingdom Feature Productions and was released in North America on November 17, 2006. It is the first animated feature film produced by Kennedy Miller in association with Animal Logic. Though primarily an animated film, it does incorporate live action humans in certain scenes. The film was simultaneously released in both conventional theatres and in IMAX 2D format.[1] The studio has hinted that a future IMAX 3D release was a possibility.[2] Happy Feet won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.
The film was dedicated in memory of Nick Enright, Michael Jonson, Robby McNeilly Green, and Steve Irwin.
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[edit] Plot
Set in an Antarctic emperor penguin colony, the film established that every penguin must make a unique song called a "heartsong" to attract a mate. If the female likes the male and his song, and if it fits with the female's and helps complete it, the two penguins mate. This is based in fact, since emperor couples court each other and recognize one another by their unique calls. One penguin, Norma Jean, sings the song "Kiss", whereupon a male penguin named Memphis sings "Heartbreak Hotel". Norma Jean chooses him as her mate. They couple and Norma Jean lays an egg. The egg is left in Memphis's care while Norma Jean and the other females leave to fish for several weeks. While the males are struggling through the harsh winter, Memphis drops the egg, briefly exposing it to the freezing Antarctic temperatures. The resulting chick - the film's protagonist, Mumble - has blue eyes, a late hatch and a terrible singing voice. However, Mumble had a talent for something that none of the penguins had ever seen before: tap dancing.
This ability is frowned upon by the colony's elders, who do not tolerate deviance of any kind. As a result, Mumble is ostracized throughout his childhood, with only his mother and his best friend Gloria to turn to for help. Mumble grows into an adult, still half-covered in fluffy down. Through a series of mishaps - mainly getting chased by a hungry leopard seal - the penguin finds himself far from his home and within the carefree colony of adelie penguins - penguins small in stature, but fiercely loyal to those they call friends. He quickly befriends a small group of bachelors who form a club of sorts called the Amigos: the leader, Ramon, the brothers Raul and Nestor, and twin brothers Rinaldo and Lombardo. The Amigos quickly embrace Mumble's dance moves and assimilate him into their misfit group.
Mumble's joy at finding acceptance is cut short when he starts discovering strange, alien things; after his accidentally starting an avalanche a long-frozen human excavator tumbles out from a glacier, and Mumble is intrigued. Driven by curiosity, he sets out to find the "aliens" responsible for the machine.
In Mumble's old home, it is mating season, and Gloria is the center of attention; however, although she is surrounded by a large horde of suitors, none of them or their heartsongs interest her whatsoever. At this point, Ramon stands behind a newly-arrived Mumble and sings a Spanish version of "My Way". Gloria likes the song to a degree but isn't fooled, for she knows that Mumble can't sing. She pushes him forward, revealing Ramon. When Mumble tells her that the act was the best he could offer, Gloria turns back to the other males, visibly distraught. Though she does have feelings for him, Mumble clearly has no heartsong and both of them are temporarily heartbroken. Mumble then tries to persuade her to sing along to his tapping rhythm. Gloria is reluctant at first but since she doesn't want Mumble to live life alone she complies, finding that Mumble's rhythm fits with her melody just as a heartsong would. As Mumble's beat speeds up Gloria finds the chorus to her heartsong, and realizes her song "Boogie Wonderland", is a dance song. Overcome with happiness over the fact that they can now be mates since their individual talents do indeed fit together, the pair begin dancing, with the other penguins joining in much to Mumble's delight.
Noah, the elder, sees the lack of fish as punishment from the Great 'Guin, their god, for Mumble's dancing. Mumble tries to explain about the mysterious "aliens" he had heard about and that they are the cause of the scarceness of fish, but none of the penguins believe him. Noah exiles Mumble from the colony as a result of his strange ways and theories, but before Mumble leaves, he vows that he will find the real cause of the famine. He travels across vast territories with the Amigos and Lovelace, a self-worshiping rockhopper. Gloria tries to help him but Mumble, out of fear for her safety, does whatever it takes to get rid of her - namely, insulting her singing talents.
The Amigos, along with Mumble and Lovelace, travel many miles under harsh conditions. During their journey, they meet a group of elephant seals, who warn of "Annihilators", who are presumably the same "aliens" Mumble seeks. After narrowly escaping from two killer whales, the penguins finally come face to face with a legion of huge commercial trawlers, all laden with fish caught around the Antarctic coast. Mumble follows after them, leaving his friends behind to bear testament to his legacy.
After swimming and being tossed around by sea currents, Mumble ends up in a penguin exhibit at a marine park (closely resembling the Penguin Encounter at SeaWorld, a massive zoom-out hinting at the one in Orlando, Florida), and fervently tries to communicate with the "aliens" (humans) who surround him. When his pleas fail, Mumble nearly succumbs to madness after three months of confinement in the sterile glass prison. When a child taps on the glass wall one day, Mumble is woken from his stupor and dances in response, whereupon the child appears to run away. He becomes disappointed until she comes back with her mother. Soon, a large crowd gathers around the exhibit, taking pictures and telling their friends of this marvel. He is released to the wild, now with less fluffy down feathers and more adult feathers, and a tracking device strapped to his back, and leads the "aliens" home to his native colony. The other penguins are skeptical at first, but when Gloria notices the beeping tracking device they realize that Mumble was right about the "aliens" and they were all wrong to judge him on his theories and his dancing. Now convinced that the aliens exist they once again dance alongside Mumble in hopes of getting the aliens' attention.
Soon, a research team arrives and films the penguins dancing, and the humans begin to dance along with the rhythm. They bring this footage back to the human world. Different governments debate what to make of this footage and a worldwide debate ensues. They soon realize that they are overfishing the Antarctic waters, and conclude that perhaps the penguins were trying to communicate that to them. Antarctic fishing is banned, and the fish population recovers. At this, the Emperor Penguins and the Amigos dance and celebrate their triumph. A dancing baby penguin seen at the end is implied to be the child of Mumble and Gloria.
In the credits, the characters reunite to dance for the final number "Song of the Heart."
[edit] Characters
- Elijah Wood and Elizabeth Daily as Mumble
- Brittany Murphy and Alyssa Shafer as Gloria
- Hugh Jackman as Memphis
- Nicole Kidman as Norma Jean
- Robin Williams as Ramón and Lovelace
- Hugo Weaving as Noah the Elder
[edit] Production
The animation in Happy Feet invested heavily in motion capture technology, with the dance scenes acted out by human dancers. The tap-dancing for Mumble in particular was provided by Savion Glover who was also co-choreographer for the dance sequences.[3] The dancers went through "Penguin School" to learn how to move like a penguin, and also wore head apparatus to mimic a penguin's beak.[4]
Happy Feet was partially inspired by earlier documentaries such as the BBC's Life in the Freezer.[5]
The film took four years to make. Ben Gunsberger, Lighting Supervisor and VFX Department Supervisor, says this was partly because they needed to build new infrastructure and tools.[6]
[edit] Music
Happy Feet is a jukebox musical, taking previously recorded songs and working them into the film's soundtrack to fit with the mood of the scene or character. Two soundtrack albums were released for the film; one containing songs from and inspired by the film, and another featuring John Powell's instrumental score. They were released on October 31, 2006 and December 19, 2006, respectively.
[edit] Awards
[edit] Won
60th British Academy Film Awards
- Best Animated Feature Film
American Film Institute Awards 2006
- Honored as one of the Top Ten Best Films of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Animation
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
- Best Animated Film
Golden Trailer Awards[7]
- Best Music
- The Truly Moving Picture Award
- Favorite Animated Movie
British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Children's Awards
- Best Feature Film
[edit] Nominations
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production
- Nominated for Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
[edit] Top ten lists
The film appeared on numerous critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006 (not including AFI's Annual list, which is listed above).[8][9]
[edit] Home media releaseHappy Feet was released on March 27, 2007[10] in the United States in three formats; DVD (in separate widescreen and pan and scan editions), Blu-ray Disc, and an HD DVD/DVD combo disc.[11] Among the DVD's special features is a scene that was cut from the film where Mumble meets a blue whale and an albatross. The albatross was Steve Irwin's first voice role in the film before he voiced the elephant seal in the final cut. The scene was finished and included on the DVD in memory of Steve Irwin. This scene is done in Steve's classic documentary style, with the albatross telling the viewer all about the other characters in the scene, and the impact people are having on their environment. [edit] Video gamesA video game based on the film was developed by A2M and published by Midway Games. It has the same main cast as the film. It was released for the following platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, GBA, NDS, and Wii.[12] Screenshots and demo clips of the various versions of the Happy Feet game can be seen at the official website. Artificial Life, Inc. has also developed a Happy Feet mobile game for the Japan market.[13] [edit] Reception[edit] Box officeThe film opened at number one in the United States on its first weekend of release (November 17-November 19) grossing $41.6 million and beating Casino Royale for the top spot.[14] It remained number one for the Thanksgiving weekend, making $51.6 million over the five-day period. In total, the film was the top grosser for three weeks, a 2006 box office feat matched only by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. As of June 8, 2008, Happy Feet has grossed $198.0 million in the U.S. and $186.3 million overseas, making about $384.3 million dollars worldwide. The film has been released in about 35 international territories at the close of 2006.[15][16][17] The production budget was $100 million.[18] [edit] Critical reviewsHappy Feet has received better than average reviews from film critics, and received a 74% "fresh" approval in the Rotten Tomatoes movie review aggregate site, with an 82% percent from the Top Critics.[19]
[edit] AnalysisThe film has also garnered, since its release, quite a bit of analysis and dissection from various places. Film critic Yar Habnegnal has written an essay, published in Forum on Contemporary Art and Society, that examines the themes of encroachment presented throughout the film, as well as various other subtexts and themes.[30] [edit] SequelA follow-up to the film is currently in production at Dr. D Studios[31]. The estimated release date is November 18, 2011.[32] [edit] Environmental messageAs things progress there is increasing emphasis on environmental problems in the Antarctic. The film's denouement shows a group of researchers taking video of the colony of dancing emperor penguins, and the footage is broadcast globally. After many heated arguments this publicity generates considerable pressure to stop commercial overfishing of the Antarctic. According to the director, George Miller, the environmental message was not a major part of the original script, but "In Australia, we're very, very aware of the ozone hole," he said, "and Antarctica is literally the canary in the coal mine for this stuff. So it sort of had to go in that direction." This influence led to a film with a more environmental tone. Miller said, "You can't tell a story about Antarctica and the penguins without giving that dimension."[33] [edit] References
[edit] External links
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