Happy Feet

This article is about the 2006 film. For other uses, see Happy Feet (disambiguation).

Happy Feet
Promotional poster
Directed by	George Miller Warren Coleman Judy Morris
Produced by	Bill Miller George Miller Doug Mitchell
Written by	Warren Coleman John Collee George Miller Judy Morris
Starring	Elijah Wood Robin Williams Brittany Murphy Hugh Jackman Nicole Kidman Hugo Weaving
Music by	John Powell Gia Farrell
Cinematography	David Peers
Editing by	Christian Gazal Margaret Sixel
Studio	Kennedy-Miller Productions Animal Logic Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures
Release date(s)	November 17, 2006 (2006-11-17) (North America) December 26, 2006 (2006-12-26) (Australia)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States Australia
Language	English
Budget	$100 million
Box office	$384,335,608[1]

Happy Feet is a 2006 American-Australian computer-animated family 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 visual effects/design company Animal Logic.

Though primarily an animated film, Happy Feet does incorporate motion capture of live action humans in certain scenes. The film was simultaneously released in both conventional theatres and in IMAX 2D format.^[2] The studio had hinted that a future IMAX 3D release was a possibility. However, Warner Bros., the film’s production company, was on too tight a budget to release Happy Feet in IMAX digital 3D.^[3]

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.

Plot

Every penguin sings a unique song called a "heartsong" to attract a mate. If the male penguin's heartsong matches the female's song, the two penguins mate. A penguin named Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) sings the song "Kiss", whereupon a male penguin named Memphis (Hugh Jackman) sings "Heartbreak Hotel". Norma Jean chooses him as her mate. Norma Jean lays an egg, which is left with Memphis while Norma Jean leaves with the other females to fish. While the males struggle through the harsh winter, Memphis accidentally drops the egg, briefly exposing it to the freezing Antarctic temperatures. The resulting chick - the film's protagonist, Mumble (Elizabeth Daily) - has blue eyes, ever-lasting down feathers, and a terrible singing voice. However, Mumble has a talent that no other penguin has ever seen before: tap dancing. One day Mumble wanders into a secluded area, where he is free to dance without any complaints. Mumble is interrupted when Boss Skua and his posse Dino, Frankie, and Vinnie attempt to eat him. Mumble stalls by asking the leader of the pack about a yellow band that is attached to his right ankle. The Boss Skua tells Mumble that he had been abducted by "aliens". Mumble narrowly escapes the hungry birds by falling into a crevice.

Mumble grows into an adult (Elijah Wood), still half-covered in fluffy down. Mumble joins his class graduates on their first trip into the ocean, where they find a large iceberg to rest on. After interrupting the graduates' song, Mumble is forced to leave, and finds a smaller iceberg. A leopard seal chases him off the iceberg. After escaping the leopard seal, he befriends a small group of bachelors which are Adele Penguins who form a club 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 is cut short when he accidentally starts an avalanche and causes a hidden human excavator to tumble out from a glacier. Driven by curiosity, he sets out to find the "aliens" responsible for the machine. Mumble has a lot of questions, and the group suggests that he ask Lovelace (a Rockhopper or Macaroni Crested Penguin) who answers questions in exchange for stones and is known as the guru. Lovelace has the plastic rings of a six pack entangled around his neck, which he uses to project his guru image. When asked if the rings were from the aliens, Lovelace denies that aliens exists and claims that the plastic rings were bestowed upon him by mystic beings.

In Mumble's old home, it is mating season, and Gloria (Brittany Murphy) is the center of attention. Although she is surrounded by a large horde of suitors, none of their heartsongs interest her. Ramon tries to help Mumble by singing a Spanish version of "My Way". Gloria is not fooled, however, for she knows Mumble cannot sing. She then notices Ramon behind Mumble's back. Gloria becomes angry and turns her back on Mumble. Gloria continues towards the other males visibly distraught. As a last resort, Mumble tries to persuade her to sing along to his tapping rhythm. Because of her affection for him, she complies. As Mumble's beat speeds up, Gloria finds the chorus to her heartsong, and realizes it is "Boogie Wonderland". Overcome with happiness that they can now be mates, the pair begin dancing, along with the other penguins.

Noah the elder sees their lack of fish as punishment from the Great 'Guin for Mumble's dancing. Mumble tries to explain about the mysterious "aliens", and that they are the cause of the scarceness of fish, but only his mother and Gloria believe him. Noah exiles Mumble from the colony. Mumble vows that he will find the real cause of the famine. He and the Amigos return to Lovelace only to find him being choked by the plastic rings. Lovelace confesses that he got stuck in the rings while swimming near the forbidden shores. He reveals that the forbidden shores are located past the land of elephant seals and beyond the blizzard country. Mumble, the Amigos and Lovelace start their journey. Gloria tries to come, but Mumble, fearing for her safety, drives her off by insulting her singing talents. They travel across vast territories till they reach the shore.

Mumble sees a boat and swims after it, leaving his friends behind. He swims far from the usual hunting range of Emperor Penguins and ends up washed up exhausted on a warm shore. He is rescued and kept for a while in a penguin exhibit at a marine park named Marine World. He tries to communicate with the "aliens" that surround him. When his pleas fail, Mumble nearly succumbs to madness after three months of confinement. When a human girl attempts to interact with Mumble by tapping on the glass window, Mumble starts dancing along to the beat, and soon a large crowd gathers around the exhibit. He is released back into the wild, now with more adult feathers, and a tracking device strapped to his back. He leads the humans to his native colony. The other penguins are skeptical at first, but when Gloria notices the tracking device, they realize that the "aliens" exist. Now convinced, the penguins (along with the once-stubborn elders) dance alongside Mumble in hopes of getting the humans' attention.

A research team arrives and film the penguins dancing. They bring this footage back to the human world, and a worldwide debate ensues. The world governments realize they are overfishing the Antarctic waters, and conclude that the penguins are 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 end credits, the characters reunite to dance for the final number, "The Song of the Heart."

Cast

• Elijah Wood as Mumble
• Brittany Murphy as Gloria
• Hugh Jackman as Memphis
• Nicole Kidman as Norma Jean
• Hugo Weaving as Noah the Elder
• Robin Williams as Ramón and Lovelace
• Carlos Alazraqui as Nestor
• Steve Irwin as Trev
• Lombardo Boyar as Raul
• Jeffrey Garcia as Rinaldo
• Johnny Sanchez as Lombardo
• Miriam Margoyles as Mrs. Astrakhan
• Fat Joe as Seymour
• Elizabeth Daily as baby Mumble
• Alyssa Shafer as baby Gloria

Production

Miller cites as an initial inspiration for the film an encounter with a grizzled old camera-man, whose father was Frank Hurley of the Shackleton expeditions, during the shooting of Mad Max 2: "We were sitting in this bar, having a milkshake, and he looked across at me and said, ‘Antarctica.’ He’d shot a documentary there. He said, ‘You’ve got to make a film in Antarctica. It’s just like out here, in the wasteland. It’s spectacular.’ And that always stuck in my head.”^[4] Happy Feet was also partially inspired by earlier documentaries such as the BBC's Life in the Freezer.^[5] In 2001, during an otherwise non-sequiter meeting, Doug Mitchell impulsively presented Warner Bros., studio president Alan Horn with an early rough draft of the film's screenplay, and asked them to read it while he and Miller flew back to Australia. By the time they'd landed, Warner Bros. had decided to provide funding on the film. Production was slated to begin sometime after the completion of the fourth Mad Max film, Fury Road, but geo-political complications pushed Happy Feet to the forefront in early 2003.

An earlier cut of the film seems to have included a large subplot regarding aliens in the extraterrestrial sense, whose presence was made gradually more and more known throughout, and who were planning to siphon off the planet's resources gradually, placing the humans in the same light as the penguins. At the end, through the plight of the main character, their hand is stayed and, instead, first contact is made. This was chopped out during the last year of production, and has yet to see the light of day in a finished form, although concept art from these sequences were showcased at the Siggraph 2007 demonstration,^[6] and are available online, as well.

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.^[7] 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.^[8]

Happy Feet needed an enormous group of computers, and Animal Logic worked with IBM to build a server farm with sufficient processing potential. 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. The server farm used IBM BladeCenter framework and BladeCenter HS20 blade servers, which are extremely dense separate computer units each with two Intel Xeon processors. Rendering took up 17 million CPU hours over a nine month period.^[9]

Music

Main articles: Happy Feet (soundtrack) and Happy Feet (score)

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.

Accolades

Won

Academy Awards

• Best Animated Feature

60th British Academy Film Awards

• Best Animated Feature Film

Golden Globes

• Best Original Song - "Song of the Heart" by Prince

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^[10]

• Best Music

Heartland Awards

• The Truly Moving Picture Award

Kids' Choice Awards

• Favorite Animated Movie

British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Children's Awards

• Best Feature Film

Nominations

Golden Globe Award

• Best Animated Feature

Annie Awards

• Best Animated Feature
• Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Satellite Awards

• Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media

Grammy Awards

• Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, John Powell, nominee
• Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: "The Song of the Heart", Prince, nominee

American Film Institute

• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Animated Film

Top ten lists

The film appeared on numerous critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006, including AFI's Annual list, which is listed above.^[11][12] AFI's jury said:

"HAPPY FEET is a one-of-a-kind motion picture experience. George Miller continues to paint outside the lines of traditional filmmaking, and his genius expands upon the animated art form to illuminate a world where penguins embrace dance and differences to survive and thrive. But that is just the tip of the iceberg, as the environment, religion and the chasm between generations enrich this sweet and subtle tale - one that is fun and funny, brilliant and beautiful, groundbreaking and global in its message."

1st - Jack Matthews, The New York Daily News 1st - Stan Urankar, Sun News 2nd - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer 2nd - Mark Palermo, The Coast 3rd - Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter 4th - Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net 5th - Scott Foundas, Village Voice 5th - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor 5th - Matthieu Santelli, Critikat (Film review, in French) 5th - Kurt Loder, MTV 5th - Missy Thompson, Tooele Transcript Bulletin 6th - Constance Garfinkle, The Patriot Ledger 6th - Carole Wrona, Critikat (Top 10 lists for 2006 films, in French) 6th - Lou Lumenick, New York Post 6th - Kyle Smith, New York Post 6th - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune 6th - Keith Cohen, Sun Newspapers 8th - Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald 9th - Schlomo Schwartzberg, Box Office Magazine Home media release Happy Feet was released on March 27, 2007[13] 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.[14] 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. Video games Main article: Happy Feet (video game) A 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 PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, GBA, NDS, and Wii.[15] Artificial Life, Inc. has also developed a Happy Feet mobile game for the Japan market.[16] Reception Box office The film opened at #1 in the United States on its first weekend of release (November 17–19) grossing $41.6 million and beating Casino Royale for the top spot.[17] It remained #1 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. Happy Feet was the third highest grossing animated film in the U.S., behind Cars and Ice Age: The Meltdown. The film has been released in about 35 international territories at the close of 2006.[18][19][20] The production budget was $100 million.[1] Critical reviews Happy Feet has received positive 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.[21] Analysis The 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, such as religious hierarchy and interracial tensions.[22] And, Vadim Rizov of the Independent Film Channel sees Mumble as just the latest in a long line of cinematic religious mavericks. On a technical or formal level, the film has also been lauded in some corners for its innovative introduction of Miller's roving style of subjective cinematography into contemporary animation, among other things. Sequel Main article: Happy Feet Two Happy Feet Two is currently in production at Dr. D Studios.[23] The estimated release date is November 18, 2011. Wood and Williams will reprise their roles for the sequel. Brittany Murphy will not be able to reprise her role, due to her death. Matt Damon and Brad Pitt have reportedly signed on to provide voice work for the film also.[24] Environmental message As 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."[25] References ^ a b Happy Feet (2006). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-01-02. ^ "Happy Feet: The IMAX Experience". IMAX. http://www.imax.com/ImaxWeb/filmDetail.do?type=comingSoon&movieID=code__.__30. Retrieved 2007-03-15.  ^ "Happy Feet Won't Debut in IMAX 3-D". VFXWorld. http://www.vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=3631a5a1&atype=news&id=17882. Retrieved 2007-03-15.  ^ "The filmmaker behind the 'Mad Max' and 'Babe' franchises turns his attention to musical fowl". In Focus. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ "Penguin suits up for a cinema hit". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20753501-2702,00.html. Retrieved 2008-03-28.  ^ (August 6, 2007). Live from the Happy Feet discussion at Siggraph 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ Savion Glover (2007). Happy Feet (DVD). Warner Brothers.  ^ Kelley Abbey (2007). Happy Feet (DVD). Warner Brothers.  ^ "Animal Logic builds rendering farm with IBM eServer BladeCenter". IBM Australia. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/cs/mcag-6h2sr2?opendocument&site=corp. Retrieved 2010-02-01.  ^ Golden Trailer Awards. Retrieved 2011-01-02. ^ "Film Critic Top Ten List, 2006 Critics' Picks". http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2006/toptens.shtml. Retrieved 2011-01-02.  ^ "The Critics". http://www.moviecitynews.com/awards/2007/top_tens/critics_01.html. Retrieved 2011-01-02.  ^ "Happy Feet (2006) - Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman". Retrieved 2011-01-02. ^ "Happy Feet to Dance on Blu-ray, HD DVD This March | High-Def Digest". Retrieved 2011-01-02. ^ Happy Feet. Midway.com. Retrieved 2011-01-02. ^ (2007-04-24). Parthajit; "Happy Feet Goes Mobile". Softpedia. Retrieved 2011-01-02. ^ Weekend Box Office Results for November 17–19, 2006. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ Happy Feet (2006) - Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ IMDb Charts. IMDb. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ Weekend Box Office Results for February 1–3, 2008. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ Happy Feet Movie Reviews, Pictures. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ Yar Habnegnal on Happy Feet. Scribd.com. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ "About Dr. D Studios". Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ (January 19, 2010). "Matt Damon, Brad Pitt to Voice Characters in Happy Feet Sequel". ShowbizSpy.com. Retrieved 2010-11-13. ^ Kelly, Kate (2006-11-17). "The New Animated Film Happy Feet Doesn't Dance Around Serious Issues". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116373257478225933-QS7Oc7yiEQI503rfJ2N42OUiVH8_20071119.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top. Retrieved 2007-03-15.  External links Official website Happy Feet at the Internet Movie Database Happy Feet at AllRovi Happy Feet at Rotten Tomatoes Happy Feet at Metacritic Happy Feet at Box Office Mojo Happy Feet - Review