1godzillafan
03-27-2007, 09:45 PM
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DVD Review
Movie Rating: **** out of ****
Extras Rating: 1/2 out of ****
Movie Review: Warner Brothers seems to always be a cut above the rest when it comes to animation (Pixar being it's biggest competitor). Disney has degraded into worthless and pathetic direct to video sequels (honestly, Cinderella II & III? What part of "Happily Ever After" do you dickweeds not understand?) after years of widely regarded animation classics is sad. WB is less well-known for it's quality animated features, because it pumps out so few of them. Think about it, WB was responsible from everything from Loony Toons to Batman: The Animated series, including some of the more standout animated films of the past few years, including Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the Iron Giant, and now Happy Feet.
Happy Feet came out of nowhere for me. It's advertisment was pretty odd, as trailers sold it with a tap dancing penguin (a trailer I refer to as March of the Penguins 2: Electric Boogaloo). I had no clue as to whether or not this was an actual movie or not, seeing how it gave no resemblance to an actual story in it. Was it supposed to be an entire movie of a penguin tap dancing? When the movie was nearing and positive word of mouth was swarming, I decided to give it a chance, right after I watched Casino Royale.
This movie washed the horrible aftertaste of Casino Royale's ending straight out! Finally a movie with beat!
Happy Feet is a movie deep with emotion, rich with laughs, and just made me want to dance to the rythum in the theater. That is a feeling I have only felt exclusivly to this movie and this movie alone. I've always loathed the random breaking out into song and dance numbers in animation, but Happy Feet works it into the story. It's one lengthy song and dance number with few breathers to tell a story in a refreshing way.
I've heard a few complaints about the film saying that it seems to be unsure as to what kind of film it is, as it drifts off in different directions as it goes on. There is merit to these complaints, however I believe it gives the tale a more epic feeling. It starts off as a cute but familiar tale of loving yourself and drifts off and builds into a giant story of environmentalism. Contrary to what naysayers have said, the story works, and this approach actually made it work better than the many told tales of "loving yourself" in the past.
The cast is excelent and play their roles better than one could imagine. Particular praise goes to Robin Williams, who pulls double duty as Ramon and Lovelace. I like Williams previous voice work, but his best was by far the Genie in Aladdin. The Genie was a magical creature that allowed Williams to cut loose and say whatever he wanted without worry, however, in followups such as Ferngully and Robots, he tried to recreate that with little effect. The characters in those films were just nuts, however in Happy Feet, he plays two different characters (played in a Robin Williams way, of course) that are distiguishable from the other. Neither come off as a Genie wannabe, nor are they crazy, it's just the way they are. They're his best animated characters in 14 years.
The animation is truly breathtaking. If you didn't witness this film on the bigscreen, I sincerly hope you have one bigass TV. If not, I pity you. Every minor detail is flawless, and will probably be overlooked now that it's out of theaters.
I positivly adored this movie. It's an instant classic that I'll be passing down to my children and grandchildren. I have a gut feeling that Happy Feet will live on as a Lion King of our decade.
Extras Review: Well, this disc won't get the extra hounds dancing. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they're mostly child oriented, but I had a glimmer of hope for something on story development or the study of antarctic animals in comparison to their film counterparts (this might have been educational for the little ones). Happy Feet's extras will take about a half an hour to get through, if you're even tempted to watch them in the first place.
Mumble Meets a Blue Whale: This is an unfinished scene from the movie exclusivly finished for the DVD. It seems to be completed more as a tribute to the late Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, who has a cameo in the scene as a seagull (Irwin has another cameo in the resulting film, as an elephant seal). In it, Mumble discovers that the "aliens" aren't just responsible for taking all the fish, but the near extiction of the blue whale. Mumble's reaction is powerful, but it probably would have been beating the heavy environmentalist message even harder than it needed to.
A Happy Feet Moment: Another animated sequence exclusive to the DVD. This isn't a deleted scene though, just a cheap laugh. An adult penguin walks up to a baby penguin and starts kicking him around like a soccer ball.
Dance Like a Penguin: Stomp to the Beat A tap dancer shares all his super cool penguin moves.
Music Videos: Two are featured, and outside of the context of the film, I didn't really care. I was astounded to discover that Prince is still making music, though.
I Love to Singa: This is a classic Loony Toon which storywise is similar to the movie. It has a family of owls that sing classical music, but one of their babies likes to sing more upbeat and modern. The father owl kicks the baby out of the house and only grows to accept him when he wins a talent show. I don't believe I've seen this cartoon before. It's pretty amusing.
Previews: Step, BUMP, step, BUMP BUMP! Step, BUMP, step, BUMP BUMP! ...five, six, seven, eight...
Happy Feet
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix
Fred Claus
Deep Sea 3D
The Nativity Story
Nancy Drew
Get to the damn point already: As we enter the 2007 year in film, I can pretty much guess that my favorite film of the year is going to be Spider-Man 3. It won't be set in stone until the film comes out, but seeing how 1 & 2 are in my top 5 favorites of all time, Sam Raimi has my full confidence in hitting another home run. In 2005 and 2006, however, I was taken from behind by a pleasant surprise that came out of nowhere, and how sweet it is. Happy Feet is not just the best animated movie of 2006, but the best movie of 2006 (eat it, the Departed). This beautiful animated epic is something that only the most soulless of movie critics would not enjoy. A must own instant classic, despite it's quicky release DVD.
Stinger: "Why you hugging me?"
"Because he told me to!"
"Stop it!"
"You know you like it!"
DVD Review
Movie Rating: **** out of ****
Extras Rating: 1/2 out of ****
Movie Review: Warner Brothers seems to always be a cut above the rest when it comes to animation (Pixar being it's biggest competitor). Disney has degraded into worthless and pathetic direct to video sequels (honestly, Cinderella II & III? What part of "Happily Ever After" do you dickweeds not understand?) after years of widely regarded animation classics is sad. WB is less well-known for it's quality animated features, because it pumps out so few of them. Think about it, WB was responsible from everything from Loony Toons to Batman: The Animated series, including some of the more standout animated films of the past few years, including Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the Iron Giant, and now Happy Feet.
Happy Feet came out of nowhere for me. It's advertisment was pretty odd, as trailers sold it with a tap dancing penguin (a trailer I refer to as March of the Penguins 2: Electric Boogaloo). I had no clue as to whether or not this was an actual movie or not, seeing how it gave no resemblance to an actual story in it. Was it supposed to be an entire movie of a penguin tap dancing? When the movie was nearing and positive word of mouth was swarming, I decided to give it a chance, right after I watched Casino Royale.
This movie washed the horrible aftertaste of Casino Royale's ending straight out! Finally a movie with beat!
Happy Feet is a movie deep with emotion, rich with laughs, and just made me want to dance to the rythum in the theater. That is a feeling I have only felt exclusivly to this movie and this movie alone. I've always loathed the random breaking out into song and dance numbers in animation, but Happy Feet works it into the story. It's one lengthy song and dance number with few breathers to tell a story in a refreshing way.
I've heard a few complaints about the film saying that it seems to be unsure as to what kind of film it is, as it drifts off in different directions as it goes on. There is merit to these complaints, however I believe it gives the tale a more epic feeling. It starts off as a cute but familiar tale of loving yourself and drifts off and builds into a giant story of environmentalism. Contrary to what naysayers have said, the story works, and this approach actually made it work better than the many told tales of "loving yourself" in the past.
The cast is excelent and play their roles better than one could imagine. Particular praise goes to Robin Williams, who pulls double duty as Ramon and Lovelace. I like Williams previous voice work, but his best was by far the Genie in Aladdin. The Genie was a magical creature that allowed Williams to cut loose and say whatever he wanted without worry, however, in followups such as Ferngully and Robots, he tried to recreate that with little effect. The characters in those films were just nuts, however in Happy Feet, he plays two different characters (played in a Robin Williams way, of course) that are distiguishable from the other. Neither come off as a Genie wannabe, nor are they crazy, it's just the way they are. They're his best animated characters in 14 years.
The animation is truly breathtaking. If you didn't witness this film on the bigscreen, I sincerly hope you have one bigass TV. If not, I pity you. Every minor detail is flawless, and will probably be overlooked now that it's out of theaters.
I positivly adored this movie. It's an instant classic that I'll be passing down to my children and grandchildren. I have a gut feeling that Happy Feet will live on as a Lion King of our decade.
Extras Review: Well, this disc won't get the extra hounds dancing. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they're mostly child oriented, but I had a glimmer of hope for something on story development or the study of antarctic animals in comparison to their film counterparts (this might have been educational for the little ones). Happy Feet's extras will take about a half an hour to get through, if you're even tempted to watch them in the first place.
Mumble Meets a Blue Whale: This is an unfinished scene from the movie exclusivly finished for the DVD. It seems to be completed more as a tribute to the late Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, who has a cameo in the scene as a seagull (Irwin has another cameo in the resulting film, as an elephant seal). In it, Mumble discovers that the "aliens" aren't just responsible for taking all the fish, but the near extiction of the blue whale. Mumble's reaction is powerful, but it probably would have been beating the heavy environmentalist message even harder than it needed to.
A Happy Feet Moment: Another animated sequence exclusive to the DVD. This isn't a deleted scene though, just a cheap laugh. An adult penguin walks up to a baby penguin and starts kicking him around like a soccer ball.
Dance Like a Penguin: Stomp to the Beat A tap dancer shares all his super cool penguin moves.
Music Videos: Two are featured, and outside of the context of the film, I didn't really care. I was astounded to discover that Prince is still making music, though.
I Love to Singa: This is a classic Loony Toon which storywise is similar to the movie. It has a family of owls that sing classical music, but one of their babies likes to sing more upbeat and modern. The father owl kicks the baby out of the house and only grows to accept him when he wins a talent show. I don't believe I've seen this cartoon before. It's pretty amusing.
Previews: Step, BUMP, step, BUMP BUMP! Step, BUMP, step, BUMP BUMP! ...five, six, seven, eight...
Happy Feet
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix
Fred Claus
Deep Sea 3D
The Nativity Story
Nancy Drew
Get to the damn point already: As we enter the 2007 year in film, I can pretty much guess that my favorite film of the year is going to be Spider-Man 3. It won't be set in stone until the film comes out, but seeing how 1 & 2 are in my top 5 favorites of all time, Sam Raimi has my full confidence in hitting another home run. In 2005 and 2006, however, I was taken from behind by a pleasant surprise that came out of nowhere, and how sweet it is. Happy Feet is not just the best animated movie of 2006, but the best movie of 2006 (eat it, the Departed). This beautiful animated epic is something that only the most soulless of movie critics would not enjoy. A must own instant classic, despite it's quicky release DVD.
Stinger: "Why you hugging me?"
"Because he told me to!"
"Stop it!"
"You know you like it!"