On Friday while I was home alone doing chores, I watched Happy Feet, which we Netflixed, but I knew Jason wouldn't want to watch with me because he's not crazy about the animated movies. FYI, when we have kids, I'm totally whipping out all my Pixar and Disney movies on a regular basis.
Anyway, Happy Feet. Has anyone else seen it? Because I thought it was kind of weird. I mean, it's obviously a kids' movie, but some of the songs the penguins sing in just the first 10 minutes are not really kid-friendly. When the line, "Let's talk about x, baby" comes up and everyone knows what they're REALLY talking about, I call that inappropriate. The rock penguins made me laugh some and the baby penguin was achingly adorable and I now want a baby penguin, which is how I felt after watching March of the Penguins, but I know there are ways to slip in grown-up jokes and themes without including so many things that are really straddling that appropriate fence.
On the other hand, I am super-impressed with how the animators made a penguin look like an expert tap dancer. Because penguins aren't so much known for their agility and fancy footwork.
4 comments:
That's the one where the penguins send messages about environmental stuff, right? I thought it was really weird too, although I saw it in the theater a very long time ago. The first half was adorable, but then it all went weird toward the end.
Kelly,
Ava and I love Happy Feet. She loves penguins generally and digs some of the music. I think it is fantastic, particularly the animation, which is easily on par with some of Pixar's best. There are probably two scenes which are somewhat scary, but not any scarier than what you see in "Up" where one character pulls a gun and shoots it at a kid.
I think I felt similarly about that movie. Except I wasn't all that interested in the tap dancer stuff. But I do remember wanting a baby penguin.
And I tend to be more, I guess, sensitive? to content in animated movies. I don't think I ever saw the first Shrek, but I saw one of them, and it just really seemed like it was an adult movie. But the theater was full of kids. And that really bothered me.
It's like everyone assumes it's a kid movie because it's animated, and the people who make it market it like it's a kid movie. And parents are so busy/uninvolved/not extra-sensitive like me, and they don't even think about what their kids are watching.
Anyway. A lot of tv is like that too. My poor future kids. They'll want to want to see new movies, and I'll be like, "how about we all watch Cinderella instead!"
One of my former roommates from the Pineapple House (who shall remain nameless to protect her reputation) went to Chinatown and purchased a pirated copy of Happy Feet a couple of years ago.
Half way through the film you see this giant hand go in front of the lense to keep the movie theatre guards unaware there was any pirating going on. The hand was there a good three to five minutes (pitch black screen for us -- only sound).
I tell you this because I thought it might have been the distraction from the pirating that caused my irritation, but I was annoyed with the film too. I finished it thinking the same exact thing: This was a weird flick. Now I'm wondering if it was actually the movie itself. I'm not interested in it enough to watch it twice to find out.
For the record: The only part I laughed at (other than the big hand) was the part where the "King" penguine shows up with six-pack plastic rings stuck to his neck. Now that's funny...(but only because it was a cartoon. Real life - not so funny).
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