I saw Happy Feet last night, and sat there in absolute astonishment as one of the most bizarre films I'd ever seen played out in front of my eyes. I guess I don't want to spoil it for everyone, but please let's discuss it when some of you have seen it.
I think this movie is going to infuriate a lot of parents. I think they'll leave the theater feeling like they've been tricked, cheated, and had their kids indoctrinated to a dark - maybe even a bit sick - worldview.
I think this film is going to make people angry.
It is *so* not what they have advertised it to be.
*I* liked it -- but I'm a single adult with no kids who likes horror films.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
You mean it ISN'T about cute little tapdancing penguins?
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
It has tapdancing penguins *in* it...
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I'm curious. What, is it like a tap dance of death? Are they, like, those Japanese demon penguins?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I did hear that the first half and the second half seem like they belong to completely different movies.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
Okay, now you have to explain this. My mom was planning on taking my nephew to see this, and I'd like to know what makes it so disturbing to you.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
At least one of the reviewers on imdb said they didn't feel comfortable with their 4 and 6 year old children with them. There's at least one scene scary enough for little kid nightmares.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
(The penguins, they wear nothing but their feathers. I mean Naked birds dancing. What is scarier than that.)
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Christy was thinking about taking Sophie to see this; she's two and a half. Is the film too scary?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: (The penguins, they wear nothing but their feathers. I mean Naked birds dancing. What is scarier than that.)
Naked Dans dancing?
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
Go ahead and post spoilers (with a warning). I'm not planning on seeing it, but I'm really curious now.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Ok, explain!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Yeah, you are gonna have to post a spoiler/warning for us now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Sorry for double posting but it seems like the reviewers are saying it has some scary bits are indicating that its because the movie brings reality of nature to the screen. Maybe I am wrong because nobody has flat out said anything other than, "The Seal Chase" scene, I can only assume this had to deal with either Leopard Seals (Who prey on penguins) or perhaps Killer Whales, I have no idea I'd love some illumination on the matter. For me at least, my kids will have plenty of exposure to how nature really is.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
BlackBlade--you are correct, in your first post. Way to scary, both my dancing and my nakedity.
As far your last post--well--you can't tap dance around sharp predator teeth.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Okay, I found a fairly comprehensive review here. It does reveal some plot info, so don't click if you want to avoid spoilers.
Looks like there's quite a bit of socio-political messages and the reviewere mentions some pretty blatant Latino stereotypes as well. Even with that said, she gave it 4 our of 5 stars and said her six year old loved it.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
It is movies like this that perpetuate the myth (apparently strongly held by some) that there are actual real penguins in the world and they they are not just made-up fantasy creatures.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
But... but... they're so cute!
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
quote: but he manages to bump into a group of smaller penguins with Mexican accents (some voiced by Robin Williams) and Latino attitudes.
There's a joke in there somewhere, I vow.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
There are too real penguins! They wouldn't put them in my Zoo Tycoon game if they weren't real. I have an exhibit of them right beside my Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Just tell us what we really want to hear-what was the Harry Potter trailer like?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: BlackBlade--you are correct, in your first post. Way to scary, both my dancing and my nakedity.
As far your last post--well--you can't tap dance around sharp predator teeth.
I'm mad because though I have the exact clip I was thinking of on VCD I cannot find it on the internet. Imagine the encounter between Albatross and Tiger Shark lasting about 45 seconds, where the Albatross keeps rearing its torso backwards and pecking at the tiger shark as the shark continues to swirl around and around, but being unable to get a purchase with its jaws. The Albatross eventually gets away but man that was one of the most tense moments of documentary history that I have seen. The albatross certainly deserved to get away after such an effort. It should be noted that nature usually does not care about justice.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
It would if justice was delicious.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: It would if justice was delicious.
BBQ Chicken Wings of Justice,
Doesn't that already SOUND tastier?
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I tell you the penguin controversies lately just won't go away. First we have tapdancing penguins, now gay penguins.
What has the word come to?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The word Penguin has indeed become an anomaly Belle.
I'm not sure what to do with it.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: I'm curious. What, is it like a tap dance of death? Are they, like, those Japanese demon penguins?
Dude, I am ABSOLUTELY seeing it in that case.
-pH
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
quote:Originally posted by Valentine014: Just tell us what we really want to hear-what was the Harry Potter trailer like?
Yeah! Yeah! Tell us the important information!
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
The trailers and promotional material for Happy Feet made it look as if the film was about a tap-dancing penguin learning the importance of being himself in a society of singing penguins...and even finding love.
Wrong-O. That's just a tiny sliver of the actual film, which basically boils down to this: Human influence of any kind in Antarctica is -evil-! Cease fishing now!
Belle: The article neglects to mention that one of the "gay" penguins left his "male mate" for a female penguin some time later IRL. Which sort of ruins the story. Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
quote:That's just a tiny sliver of the actual film, which basically boils down to this: Human influence of any kind in Antarctica is -evil-! Cease fishing now!
I have to wonder if that aspect of the movie could possibly be any worse than it was in Hoot.
--j_k
Posted by just_me (Member # 3302) on :
quote: First we have tapdancing penguins, now gay penguins.
Yeah, how dare someone write a book about an actual event involving a couple of male penguins. Obviously part of a vast conspiracy.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Well, something humans tried to apply actual labels to, anyway.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
So what you're saying is, it's like Fern Gully?
-pH
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
hahahha @ Ferngully reference (worst animated movie of the early 90's).
I really want to see it now, just to see why it's so weird.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
I was planning on taking my 11-year-old brother and ALMOST three-year-old son to see it next weekend, but now I'm having second thoughts. He has recently started seeing "mosters" everywhere, and I don't want to take him to a movie that's going to make it worse.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Has anyone seen it yet?
Okay - SPOILERS BELOW -
SPOILERS
LOOK OUT
Okay,
So the first forty minutes or so is what they advertised: funny, cute, dancing penguin named Mumble who struggles to find himself in a world of singing penguins.
Theeeeen... It goes off the deep end a bit, with Mumble defying the religion of the Penguins in his belief that aliens (humans) are responsible for taking all the fish -- and that the famine is not being caused, as the other penguins believe, by the great 'Guin in the sky.
Heavily anti-religious themes, here.
Mumble is cast out for refusing to follow the ways of the great 'Guin ("It doesn't make any sense!") and determines to trek across the mountains to the place where the aliens dwell.
There is an extended sequence in which he is captured and put in a zoo, and loses his mind. Actually loses his mind -- hallucinating that the penguins from his past are there, saying bizarre things. All the while these strange creatures (humans) are staring into the penguin habitat with blank expressions on their faces and a deep incomprehensible murmur of sound -- which I took to be human speech that Mumble couldn't understand -- plays in the background.
It is played like a horror film, and it is kind of sickening. The filmmakers play that up very much. Look how little we humans care for kind and gentle creatures such as penguins.
Finally when Mumble does return to his fellow penguins, he has a tracking device attached to him so the humans can find his tribe (or whatever) -
This all plays out in a pretty twisted way, with very little humor, and the audience feeling like it just got punched in the gut -
then we get a slapped-on happy ending that makes absolutely no sense in the context of the story we have just seen, presumably so the little ones won't leave the theater feeling as miserable and horrified as they've been for the previous 45 minutes ... There has to be some relief, in the end, from what is a very depressing movie with a very dark message.
The primary messages I took from the film were:
Religion is evil Human beings are evil There is no relief or comfort in this world for noncomformists
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by Libbie: hahahha @ Ferngully reference (worst animated movie of the early 90's).
I really want to see it now, just to see why it's so weird.
Shameful! Ferngully is the best movie EVER! Seriously I love that movie. You can call it badly animated if you want, which I don't think it was, but don't call it a bad movie. Way to try and ruin my childhood Libbie.
quote:Originally posted by Belle: I tell you the penguin controversies lately just won't go away. First we have tapdancing penguins, now gay penguins.
What has the word come to?
Yeah, I think we should start restricting access to Three Men and a Baby, too. Clearly it's the same sort of homosexual agenda pushing smut that we need out of our schools, and off our television screens! Seriously, what is with people these days?
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
TL, thanks for the summary. Based on what you've said and what I've seen in reviews, I won't be seeing it.
and I hope everyone knows I was being funny about the penguin book...I don't really think that a story relating a real incident about penguins adopting a chick heralds the end of civilization as we know it. Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
What's really surprising me is that this thing is at 80% positive on rottentomatoes.com, easily one of the best-reviewed of the many CG features this year! Between that and the reports like TL's of the bizarrely disturbing second half, I'm finding myself wanting to see this more and more. Which, come on, mo-capped penguins.... I never thought I'd be saying that. Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Fern Gully's a weeeird movie. The ending is so creepy...
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
See, my problem with the story of that incident isn't "OMG, GAY PENGUIN FAMILY!"...but the same problem I had with "March of the Penguins"...we keep applying human terms and emotions where they just don't apply.
Do I think animals have feelings and feel love? Yes.
However, to assume those feelings follow human patterns, in human ways is wrong-headed. The "couple" went their individual ways some time afterwards, with no evidence that their media-hyped "family unit" or "sexuality" were ever anything like what humans assign those terms to.
Let animals be animals. Stop trying to force them into being cute cartoon people.
Except in actual cartoons. Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
quote:Originally posted by kojabu: Fern Gully's a weeeird movie. The ending is so creepy...
I completely disagree on this one. Ferngully is honestly my favorite childhood movie. My best friend and I would watch it all the time, and I can still quote it extensively. ("You are one bodacious babe.") Lyrhawn is right, as usual. This movie rocks my socks.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
The strange cloud thing creeped me out when I was little.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
They cast Tim Curry as the voice, so the creepiness was completely intentional.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I loved Fern Gully as a child, even though it gave me nightmares.
I also loved Happy Feet. So much. So, so much. And I still don't understand the not taking your children to see it because it might give them nightmares. Everything might give a child nightmares. I mean, one of my greatest obsessive-compulsive fears is from something I saw in the kids' show Wishbone.
The point is, it's adorable, and I loved it. And I also loved Fern Gully, and I really didn't think it was too anti-anything, honestly. Not anymore than any other kids' cartoon.
-pH
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:And I still don't understand the not taking your children to see it because it might give them nightmares.
You don't have children.
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
I have only two things to say to you 'Bam Bi'.
The movie 'Bambi' is one of the all-time scariest movies, and it is a kids animated movie. Oh sure it's all chirping birds and cute twinklie eyed forest creatures, that is, until the Hunters show up and then it's the emotional nightmare from hell. Probably turned more kids off to hunting that any other single source.
So, there's a big bad seal in the movie (Happy Feet); so what? Kids need to be scared. They need to experience it in the safe controlled format of movies to better condition them to deal with it in real life. You don't really protect your kids when you try to protect them from this kind of thing in the various forms of media. What you do is shelter them and make them more afraid of real unknown life and far less able to cope with it.
So, take you kids to see the movie no matter how young they are. Enjoy the physical, psychological, and emotional rollercoaster ride with them. Then come out of the theater happy and healthy, skin rosey red and aglow with the shared emotional ride.
Just one man's opinion.
Steve/BlueWizard
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
I'm going to presume anyone who's read this far recognizes they're in spoiler territory for purposes of discussion. Just to warn you.
(possible SPOILERS.)
I don't think it's particularly fair to call the movie anti-religion. At least, not if you take more than a very shallow look at it.
It does disapprove of a particular fundamentalist world-view that ascribes all good or bad that occurs to higher powers, refuses to take any sort of personal responsibility for change, and ostracizes those considered unusual without firm reason.
The "faith" of the penguins clearly binds them together as a community and helps them get through Antarctic winters; this is made clear in an early scene. And that faith itself is never overturned or disproven; rather, those who abuse that faith to bring themselves power are shown (and recognize) that they're wrong.
As far as "humans are evil" and "there is no comfort for nonconformists"- well, humans have done real damage in Antarctica, and only humans could possibly undo that damage. If anything, the film oversimplifies how easy it might be to undo that damage. But the humans do undo the damage. The only time human faces are actually on screen, they're either doing nothing harmful or doing something benevolent.
And the nonconformist does have his day. No big surprise there, what with being a child-oriented animated movie.
If one wanted to argue that the ending is rushed or unearned, there might be some ground there. And it definitely had more scary and sad moments than the previews would lead you to expect, though I don't think there's any individual moments as sad as, say, "The Lion King" or "Bambi", and the scariness is mostly from chases and near escapes. There are some Latino stereotypes; nothing especially negative. I suppose someone of hispanic background might be more offended than I was, I don't really know.
My three year old daughter thought it was great, and I don't especially regret taking her. And if you don't see it, I honestly think you'll miss some of the most beautiful computer-generated animation ever.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
I agree that you can't completely restrict your kids from fear and things like that, however saying "take them no matter how old they are" isn't really good advice. Children mature at different ages. Very young children don't easily grasp the idea of "fiction". The reason Bambi turned alot of kids off from hunting is because it made them believe (fuller belief as a child, but lingering even when logic says otherwise) that there really are happy little deer family out in the wilderness. This isn't exactly true, since most animals don't "really" have the same emotional bonds as humans, but the kids see it as true, and so can't bring themselves to kill the deer. It's like in Homecomming where Volya explains that killing diggers is wrong because they're "smarter" than mere animals. When they personify the animal on screen, children believe they are "human". As children get older, they understand more and more about how movies are just "make believe" and things they see on film aren't AS likely to traumatize them, espescially animated things.
My son, however, is only a pre-schooler. We're still having to talk ALOT about make-believe and things like that. I will have to seriously consider taking him to a movie that might be so emotionally involved.
As far as being one of the best animated movies this year.... I don't think ANYTHING could top Cars.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Meh. Cars didn't impress me much.
Then again, nothing much has, this year.
-o-
Compare the "latino stereotypes" in this film to, say, Cheech Marin's portrayals in Lion King and other animated movies, if you would. Is that all you're talking about, or is it worse than that?
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
The "Latino penguins" are a shorter species of penguin who like to dance and party. That's about it.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I also think that little penguin species is the one that's found in Argentina, but I'm not sure.
-pH
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
It's sort of odd that Disney films nobody mentioned as being flawless and perfect for children of all ages are being used to defend Happy Feet, instead of the actual content of the film.
"You thought it had stuff too intense for kids? Well...this film you didn't represent, nor suggest as a perfect all-ages film had questionable content too! So there!"
Feh. I'm not saying parents shouldn't take their kids to it, I'm just saying they should be aware that it's not the "cute penguin movie" it was advertised as.
Same as I would tell a parent not in the know that Bambi isn't all cute skunks and fawns sniffing flowers. Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
For the record, I liked Happy Feet.
I'm just trying to be upfront about what's *in* the movie.
I think it's perfectly fair to say the film has anti-religious themes and messages. Or did I miss the part where there was at least *one* religious character in the film who didn't end up a debunked, disgraced liar?
When every religious leader in the film is portrayed in a negative way, with no positive (or even neutral) counterbalance, I think it's fair to say that the filmmakers have a negative view of religion.
By the way, I'm not religious. It didn't bother me. But I know it's going to bother a lot of other people.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
The ending....
The reason I discount the ending is because, and this is just my impression... It felt, to me, like they had certain messages they wanted to get across very strongly -- and they spent the entire second half of the film driving those messages home with blunt force.
Then we get an ending that feels absolutely tacked-on, and absolutely false, and which seems to say "Just kidding!" with a big smile on its face about the dark worldview the film has just presented.
Your kids will leave the theater with smiles on their faces -- but that doesn't matter, because the smile is the trick; the filmmakers have already got their message through. Putting the happy ending on felt, to me, like the compromise they had to accept in order to make the film they *really* wanted to make.
Now, obviously, I'm speculating about George Miller's motive -- and that may not be fair.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by TL: I think it's perfectly fair to say the film has anti-religious themes and messages. Or did I miss the part where there was at least *one* religious character in the film who didn't end up a debunked, disgraced liar?
When every religious leader in the film is portrayed in a negative way, with no positive (or even neutral) counterbalance, I think it's fair to say that the filmmakers have a negative view of religion.
Definite SPOILER territory here.
There are two figures in the movie who could most readily be recognized as religious leaders: the emperor penguins' Noah, and the smaller penguins' Lovelace.
Lovelace is a scam artist. He's taken an unusual event and leveraged it into a sort of oracle/faith-healer position. He never believes his own line, but he bullies and subterfuges others to get his own way. Eventually the event (getting a six-pack ring stuck on his neck), combined with his own overindulgence, comes back to bite him. When he's freed from the ring, he devotes himself to telling Mumbles' story.
Noah is more complicated. He's something of a villain in as much as he uses his power to bully those who he sees as different. But he also organizes the male penguins in ways that helps them to survive the sunless winter. The vision of "Guin" in the aurora during the winter scene even suggests, to some extent, that there may be a sort of truth in the penguin faith. And Mumbles never questions that faith itself; the closest he comes to that is saying that if Guin didn't upset the balance, Guin shouldn't be expected to fix it. In the end, Noah recognizes the truth in what Mumbles says and dances along with the others.
Neither character, as far as I can see, is ever particularly punished or humiliated strictly for adhering to religion; they see that they were wrong to exploit others' faith for their own power or to allay their own fear. Neither character is evil, neither is a Scar or a Jafar, for the Disney examples. I think if there's a message about religious leaders, it's that their adherents should consider whether they have ulterior motives in their messages. And I don't necessarily think that's a bad message, even for the devoutly religious.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Pretty much any Disney movie is disturbing to young children, which is often why they seem to adore them so much.
My daughter went through a phase where she was addicted to "The Lion King," and loved her some Scar.
One day, in the grocery store, my innocent little three year-old said, softly: "I'm guilty."
"Huh?" I replied.
"I'm guilty."
Still not believing what I was hearing, I asked her one more time. At that point, she pushed herself up in the grocery cart as far as the little seat belt wouldlet her, and screamed: "I'm guilty! Guilty of...MURDER!!!!!!"
The guy stocking the meat shelf looked around in astonishment, and I practically wet myself laughing.
Disney movies are some of the sickest, most disturbing movies out there. How about Snow White? The hunter. The heart. Ew!
Posted by Dark as night (Member # 9577) on :
So I discovered this thread last night, minutes after I found out that I'd be seeing it today with my 3 nephews, their parents and their friends' kids. At first I was sceptical to take 6 kids aged 2-6 to this movie, but they were anticipating the whole week, so I decided not to try to talk them out of it. SPOILERS AHEAD!
For what it's worth, I liked it. I thought the animation was very well done, especially the subtle movements and "facial expressions" of the penguins during singing. I mean that really was a great Elvis impersonation! And the little hip-hopping-rapping penguin made me laugh out loud! Personally I thought the music was great, the singing well done, and the dancing of course was cute and infectious. Narrations done by so many good actors with so many different accents were hilarious and believable. By the way, I found the fact that Mumble was the only penguin with blue eyes to be very adorable. You could just see Elijah Wood even without hearing him. Most of the landscape sequences were amazing and seemed very real. And in my humble opinion, the seal and whale scenes were not that frightening at all. I expected much worse.
That said, here's what I didn't like. The film WAS too long. It was filled with too many social and ecological issues, which let's be honest, most kids didn't get anyway, and most adults probably didn't anticipate based on the happy carefree trailer. As for the plausibility of the story, has anyone heard of a penguin or another animal being freed from the zoo and miraculously returned to its very own corner of natural habbitat? Really. And of course I didn't find the possibility of fishing industry just quitting and leaving Antarctica just because of one or any number of cute animals to be very believable. Maybe that's what we'd LIKE to see happen...
As for the kids, both two-year olds were bored with the exception of few funny and/or exciting scenes, and our 4 year old friend told me half way through the movie that she was ready to go home. My 5 year nephew who likes dancing probably enjoyed it the most, and actually tap danced his way out of the theatre to the car. As for the 6 year olds, they stayed still as long as the supply of popcorn didn't run out. The kids got bored, they missed a lot of subtle humor and didn't get most of the story. My nephews haven't asked for a "Happy Feet" DVD yet and were less than impressed overall.
Again, for what it's worth, I did like it. I think it's worth seeing. It will endear some, disappoint others, and hopefully make people other than my nephew tap dance in the parking lot.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Religion is evil Human beings are evil There is no relief or comfort in this world for noncomformists
So, instead of taking my son to see this, I think I'll just put the Seven DVD in and have him watch that and save myself twenty bucks.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Pretty much any Disney movie is disturbing to young children, which is often why they seem to adore them so much.
My daughter went through a phase where she was addicted to "The Lion King," and loved her some Scar.
One day, in the grocery store, my innocent little three year-old said, softly: "I'm guilty."
"Huh?" I replied.
"I'm guilty."
Still not believing what I was hearing, I asked her one more time. At that point, she pushed herself up in the grocery cart as far as the little seat belt wouldlet her, and screamed: "I'm guilty! Guilty of...MURDER!!!!!!"
The guy stocking the meat shelf looked around in astonishment, and I practically wet myself laughing.
Disney movies are some of the sickest, most disturbing movies out there. How about Snow White? The hunter. The heart. Ew!
Ha! Try reading the original fairy tales the editted for content. Now that's disturbing. Plus there are so many stories about old people eating children. Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH: I also think that little penguin species is the one that's found in Argentina, but I'm not sure.
-pH
The little penguins are called Adelie Penguins and they're in Antarctica.
I don't really know how I feel about the movie yet. I came out of theater trying to figure out what I had just seen. It was just odd and definately not what one expects. I'm not saying it was bad, it was just different. Also, I felt as though it was going about five different directions at the same time.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
This is why I don't think the movie was as disconnected as many of you seem to have thought it was (SPOILERS):
The tagline was "Find your voice," right? And that was what happened in the whole movie. I mean, Mumble figured out how to get the humans' attention through dancing, so he gave them a voice. How is that not consistent with the rest of the movie?
-pH
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
The trailers I saw involved a penguin who danced but couldn't sing. And that was about it.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
But since when does a trailer that doesn't point at every part of a plot make a movie somehow disconnected? Yeah, it had a penguin who danced and couldn't sing. And it had the "find your voice" tagline.
I dunno. I like it when movies aren't exactly what they look like in the trailer. 'cause if they are, I'll probably get bored.
-pH
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Here's the problem: kids are very picky and often very fragile, and trailers which promise one experience and deliver another are extremely inconvenient for parents. Young children especially have extreme difficulty separating reality from fantasy -- Sophie will grudgingly admit that the Lambchop puppet I sometimes wear on my hand isn't "really real," but only if pressed -- and exposing them to disturbing or shocking imagery in order to speed up their development is not a particularly intelligent way of getting them used to the real world (contrary to what's been previously asserted on this thread). A toddler's mental development is still as much physical as it is psychological, so regularly horrifying or disgusting them won't make them more "mature;" since their brains simply aren't ready yet, all it will do is break them.
We have to skip past two scenes in "Finding Nemo," two scenes in "The Lion King," and one scene in "Cars." (There was another scene in "Cars" that terrified her in the theater, but which is less disturbing at home.) And we do this gladly, because we watch movies to enjoy them -- and Sophie most emphatically does not enjoy being really scared (as opposed to being "pretend scared," which she enjoys enormously). Nor does she have the mental faculty right now to understand that movies should only "pretend scare" you, not "really scare" you.
"Happy Feet" is being marketed as a young kid's film, but it -- like "Flushed Away" -- is actually PG. There hasn't been a decent G film released since "Cars," IIRC.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Whether or not the trailer points out what happens in the plot doesn't mean that the movie wasn't disconnected in general. Also, the trailer makes it seem like it's another typical little kid's movie like Ice Age or Madagascar, which IMO it's not.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Right. It's not as advertised, is all I'm saying. I actually liked the film.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Now I'd like to ask a question to others who have seen the film.
When you were watching the second half of the film, in which Mumble goes on his journey to find the aliens, and ends up in a zoo having hallucinations, and then returns to his tribe with that device surgically implanted onto his back....
(And I mean: when you were watching it. Forget hindsight, context, foresight, whatever. WHEN you were watching it...)
Did anybody else find that to be incredibly disturbing?
Im curious if maybe my reaction is actually the minority reaction.
Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :
So was Mumbles the Ender of the penguins cause he has a monitor.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
TL: I was mildly disturbed by the zoo scene. I felt really bad for him at first, but then when the narrator said he all but lost his mind and he started seeing things, I got a bit weirded out.
Oh and one of my friends said that she thought whoever wrote it was on something.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Tom: So what your saying is your daughter is a sissy?
Sounds like she has a stronger case of the fear affliction I had as a child, and still carry to a lesser extent as an adult. There were several movies that had scenes with varying levels of scary.
lvl 1: I could handle watching it, but it was scary for me every time.
lvl 2: I could sit there but I had to cover my eyes.
lvl 3: I hid behind the couch, I could not tolerate enduring the scene until it was over.
Malefacent from Sleeping Beauty placing her curse on the baby Aurora was a lvl 1, but the fulfillment of the curse where Aurora in a trance touches the spinning wheel was a lvl 2. The scene in ET where Eliot stumbles across ET in the corn field and there was lots of Eliot and ET yelling (ET has a scary yell) was a lvl 3.
To this day if I am in a movie and I think the director is trying to build me up into a fright I still direct my gaze to just below the screen until the moment of explosive shock has occurred. I've always become very good at spotting when a movie is going to try to randomly scare me, like when a character turns only to be face to face with a monster.
I still prefer psychological scary (Silence of the Lambs) to lame cheating scary (The Grudge/The Ring/anything like that). I think its obnoxious when a director chooses to scare you by using your limited perspective against you.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I remember taking my kids to see "Atlantis," thinking it was going to be along the lines of a regular Disney G movie, which is really a PG movie. (and I agree with you, Tom, except that my daughter was always one of those kids who was not horrified herself, just fascinated by evil. She still is. I think it is her way of acting it out. But I digress.)
Atlantis was more like a PG-13 movie, in my book. I had some real issues with its pure violence. An old man(like, really old, and extremely frail) is puched in the face. A woman is kicked in the face. It was just awful all around.
What I also found interesting is that my daughter was only ever frightened by the female evil characters in Disney.
My son is a big scaredy cat, still, and he is ten. So we have had a different standard for each of their viewing since they were small.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
quote: and exposing them to disturbing or shocking imagery in order to speed up their development is not a particularly intelligent way of getting them used to the real world (contrary to what's been previously asserted on this thread). A toddler's mental development is still as much physical as it is psychological, so regularly horrifying or disgusting them won't make them more "mature;" since their brains simply aren't ready yet, all it will do is break them.
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I totally agree. It will make many of them cynical and the real world doesn't have to be like that. What scenes did you have to skip? I know even as an adult there are scenes in movies and shows I just can't stand because they are crushingly depressing.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I am pretty sure he skipped the scene my daughter reenacted in the grocery store!
Posted by Dark as night (Member # 9577) on :
quote:Originally posted by TL: When you were watching the second half of the film, in which Mumble goes on his journey to find the aliens, and ends up in a zoo having hallucinations, and then returns to his tribe with that device surgically implanted onto his back....
(And I mean: when you were watching it. Forget hindsight, context, foresight, whatever. WHEN you were watching it...)
Did anybody else find that to be incredibly disturbing?
Im curious if maybe my reaction is actually the minority reaction.
Yes I was a bit disturbed. First of all I just had a hard time finding the whole situation believable (the coming home with a tracking device at least). The zoo thing just seemed so real, I was afraid my impressionable nephews would never want to go to the zoo again. Alas, they weren't bothered at all.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I wasn't really disturbed by it. Actually, from when they did that thing where they pulled all the way back and you saw the United States, then the world....I was like, "Is that the Florida Aquarium?"
-pH
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
I also saw this film yesterday. I don't know... I wasn't as impressed with this as I was with Flushed Away. I can't believe this film won an Oscar while Flushed Away wasn't even nominated.
Not that this sucked completely. Some of the song and dance numbers were good, though many were not, and there were a few sequences so breathtaking that I don't regret watching it - the opening with the birth of the penguin babies, the sliding down an icy mountain that ends with the penguins finding a bulldozer and the dance number in which Mumble asks Gloria to sing to the rhythm of his feet. The icy landscapes looked beautiful, but then again I have to say - having recently watched both the Planet Earth series and a separate BBC documentary focusing solely on penguins - they were no match for the real thing. (Also, why are emperor penguins getting all the juiciest movie offers when the adelies are so much more interesting in real life? It's a conspiracy!) All in all, what worked was the spectacle, which is what they reward Oscars for, I suppose.
Overall, though, it was a disappointment. Most of the singing bits were boring, Robin Williams I've never really liked, and the ending just fell kind of flat. I thought it was an excellent idea to tell the story like Watership Down in that the animals were kept more naturally "penguinlike", not made into Disney characters, but then I didn't think the mixing of the step dancing plot with the alien plot truly worked. (I'd actually loved the movie more if it'd axed the dancing plot altogether and made it more of a penguin version of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind.) Worst were the emotional scenes, such as Mumble having a little heart to heart with his father or Mumble telling off his girlfriend - I didn't feel either of those truly worked.
The ending... It was a bit abrupt, yeah. Not so much the aquarium thing (which I didn't find that disturbing) but the way which Mumble then suddenly reappeared to his family and friends. It took me a while to realize it wasn't a dream anymore. (Also, the live action sequences were bad and too stylized compared to how lifelike they tried to keep the Antarctica scenes.)
However, I would have been terrified of this film as a child, and I wouldn't have needed scary seals or killer whales for that. Just the images of the barren, empty ice fields under a storm or dark icy sea bottoms would have done that to me.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Cast my vote for Fern Gully was awesome. I think Fern Gully is what made me start using words like "awesome" in the first place. That and a character in Punky Brewster that I can't remember.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
I just watched "Happy Feet" as well, and really liked it. I'm not a huge fan of the music they used, and Mumble's ever-adolescent plumage started to seem really creepy-lookin' after a while, but the animation was beautiful- the leopard seal and orcas, in particular, were genuinely frightening. The scene in which the old guard try to drown out the dancing with their voices was just brilliantly executed on all fronts. Could've done without the Robin Williams, but the rest of the film's voice acting was spot-on, especially Hugh Jackman's Elvis impersonation.
I really dug the highly unconventional third act. It took guts for them to go as dark as they did during the scene with Mumble at the zoo. And I liked the use of live-action footage for the humans... it grounds that part of the film in reality, as it was supposed to, but also gives it a mild element of surrealism. It wouldn't have worked if the penguins were more stylized in their design, but because the filmmakers tried to keep their animals as realistic-looking as possible, the merging of cartoon and live-action worked. That first shot of Mumble seeing the humans' faces through the window was spectacularly creepy.
I also liked that the film's political point is more complex than just "global warming is bad, and humans are evil." The montage of political debate at the film's conclusion is as much an accusation as it is a call to arms: why, when a "documentary" of this sort actually appears in real life, do we as a culture NOT do anything about the problems depicted? "March of the Penguins" was a massive hit, and yet I would wager that donations to penguin research have not increased perceptibly. The film is as much a condemnation of armchair liberalism as it is one of environmental conservatives- it says, "If you find value in these things, why aren't you willing to act?"
[ May 03, 2007, 12:19 PM: Message edited by: Tarrsk ]
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
For me that's actually something that bothered me about the film because as far as I could see the whole "penguins are dying because of mass fishing" aspect of the film was made up. Meaning that emperor penguins most definitely are not in danger currently due to human fishing. (There have been cases with other penguin species further down south, I think...) But I suppose some people would have found it even more disagreeable if it'd been of something real...
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Wait a minute...Scar wasn't evil?
Isn't Scar, like, classically evil? First-degree murder of family, brutal tyranny, attempted first-degree murder of children, wrongful imprisonment...
Don't get me wrong. He's hella cool, but dagnasty evil, too.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Watching this movie and seeing Mumble's ever-present adolescent plumage, my roommate commented, "So are we to understand that Mumble never sexually matured? How is this a happy ending?"
Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
I was bothered by that too katharina - I watched this movie with some friends last night and we found it somewhat creepy that he's obscessing over this girl when he's not ever maturing into an adult.
In terms of the "incredibly disturbing" nature of the second half, I did find it disturbing though also quite well done. Watching it as an adult (ok, college student, but still) I saw the anti-human influence and appreciated it but I think that was definately too much for kids. Actually, i found the divice on his back the most disturbing, mainly because with the beeping (and my prior knowledge from watching action films) I kept expecting him to be a planted bomb.
Overall I did like the movie, but I wouldn't say it was really a kids movie. I think they focused more on the adults that would be going to see it with their kids, and that's not entirely a bad thing, it just made the movie really scary for children.
Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
I thought it was the world's most depressing movie. I don't know about fear, but I hated the movie, because it was so dark. Can the penguins just be nice?
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
*SPOILERS*
I loved this film and found it to be immensely inspiring and happy-ended. I loved the sci fi film references (2001 A Space Odyssey more obviously and Contact less obviously, and probably others). I thought it was well-wrriten and beautiful.
The message that so many people despise I would describe as how humans have an impact on the natural world that they don't ever think about- from the point of view of those who are impacted. There was never an indication that humans were evil; in the end, humans become aware of what they are doing and start to take better care around the penguins and cease their overfishing.
I do not see how this is objectionable. Isn't there an adage about walking a mile in someone else's shoes? Think of this as walking a mile in someone else's flippers.
Never once does Mumble label the 'aliens' as evil.
The "other" message of the film was about ignorance and closed-mindedness. They refuse to let Mumble dance because it is outside of their Penguin Doctrines. Mumble shows them that its okay and that he isn't causing the lack of fish that the humans are causing with their overfishing. There is no sense that the 'religion', once being opened to new things, has gone. It's about as anti-religious as Fiddler on the Roof is.
I don't think children percieve this movie as 'horror' in the same way adults do. It's like Gaiman's Coraline: what seems horrible to us is merely interesting and gripping to the children because what adults extrapolate as horror, children don't get all the ramifications of. Mumble is at first unable to communicate through his language but then he manages to attract attention through very thing that got himself ejected from his community- dancing. And it's a child who makes 'first contact'.
Yes, I agree that Happy Feet is possibly PG, not G, but that doesn't make it an evil film. If you have a tough seven-eleven year old, it's perfect because you can watch it as an adult and still be charmed and inspired and interested.
I think the backlash against this film is unwarranted.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
Thanks, Teshi. You said exactly what I was trying to express, but, y'know, better. With good-er words. Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
The only anti-relgious thing I caught is when the penguin elders talk about their god, who 'giveth, and taketh away', which is a direct Biblical quote... Or maybe, it was 'gives and takes away.' Anyway, it was there. That put up a red light for me.
Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
On the other hand, when they said something like "in Guin we trust" it made me think they were making some sort of reference to an American theocracy, since that phrase jumped out at me from the dollar bill. Is there ever a phrase like that in the Bible?
Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
"My trust is in the name of the Lord..."
Things like that are in the Bible. 'In God we trust' is easy to change with the translation. 'In God we putteth our trust', 'I put my trust in the Lordeth', 'It is in the Lord that I trust', 'I trust [believe, have faith in, completely, totally and fully] in [around, about] the [a, an] Lord.'
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