Saturday, January 27, 2007
Happy Feet
My oldest son Gibson has loved going to the movies since he was barely 2 years old. Even at that age he had an amazing attention span and ability to sit quietly and still when asked to. We took him to see Finding Nemo and once he got used to the dark and the noise and the spectacle, he was hooked. We’ve never had trouble taking him to movies.
My youngest son Griffin on the other hand, will not sit still…ever….for any reason….no matter what. He just turned 3 and seems to be taking a greater interest in TV and movies so we decided to take him to see Cars a few months back. Great movie which he seemed to enjoy, but it really only held his attention for about 45 minutes. After that, he was much more amused by the fact that his seat flipped up and down and that he was getting to eat candy and should probably ask the others in the theater if they wanted some.
So, it was with some trepidation that I took the boys to see Happy Feet. But several months had passed and with a 2-3 year old he changes dramatically about every 15 minutes. In fact, we practically have to reintroduce ourselves every day when I get home, which he does these days by hiding under the coffee table when I come in and saying “I’m not going to give you a hug.” It warms the heart. Anyway, he seemed to have changed in that he was much more able to watch movies for a longer period of time…or so I thought. Plus, he had somehow become aware of Happy Feet, no doubt because you can not walk 10 steps in suburban America without being blasted by adds for whatever the newest animated kids flick is.
Well, Happy Feet was good, and I think Griffin even liked it, but he’s still not movie ready. I say all of that only to say that even while wrestling a 2 year old and trying to translate some story lines for a 6 year old in a theater filled with noisy young children, I still thought the movie was pretty dang good, and that’s saying something.
But, even though I enjoyed it, what you really need to know is whether its target audience liked it. So, even though my usual crack correspondent team of my son Gibson and his buddy Douglas isn’t available (Douglas hasn’t yet seen it), I’m going to go forward with the up and coming tandem of Gibson and Griffin for this one. As I’ve done once before, I’m going to let them do the review. I will list my responses and then their responses when I asked them questions like, what was the movie about, what was your favorite part, etc.
What it’s about
Josh – This movie is about animated (in every sense) penguins. They all sing. I don’t know if you knew that, but penguins are all great singers favoring primarily American pop songs. They sing to find their soul mates. The details on how that works are a bit fuzzy, but frankly the revelation that all penguins are beautiful singers was stunning enough without learning every nuance of this beautiful mystery of nature. Anyway, the story revolves around a newborn penguin that can not sing. This tragic twist of fate leaves him unable to find his soul mate. Soon he discovers that, while he can’t sing, he can tap dance. As I’m sure you can imagine, hilarity ensues.
Gibson – Its about a little penguin that runs away and tries to find….no wait, backspace all of that…He finds these little penguins that speak espanol. They take him to Lovelace because he doesn’t know people and wants to find them. And while he’s doing that, he gets chased by a leopard seal and then…ummm…ok, that’s all.
Griffin – When that little big egg came out he body, when he walks down a doggy runs and runs faster and faster and that’s all.
What’s to like
Josh – Incrdible animation. Seriously, amazing stuff. Remember how that opening race sequence in Cars looked like they had spliced in some real footage in parts? Well there is a scene in this movie that I seriously could not tell whether I was seeing actual footage of Antarctica or if it was still animated.
The Hispanic accented side characters. Hilarious.
The premise. It’s not the traditional tap-dancing penguin outsider movie. This one really adds some interesting twists on that old genre
The rapping penguin
The seal chase scene. Think you can’t make a seal look mean…think again.
Gibson – When one of the little penguins says “sometimes I trick myself. Oh look up there..aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” I think he had orange hair, but I’m not sure.
Griffin – (rapping) “Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge, we’re tryin’ not to lose our heads.”
What I could have done without
Josh – It was a bit slow at times, especially toward the end. One of the penguins has one of those plastic things that hold a 6 pack together. My Dad for years has cut those things up before throwing them away and lectured me sternly that I should do the same. I couldn’t help but suspect that he found a way to get that added to the movie just to make his point to me.
Gibson – I didn’t like when he got chased by the leopard seal. That was very, very scary.
Griffin – I liked the part when they walked like this (walking like a penguin). Dad: What didn’t you like? Grif: I like the dolphin with his flat belly, the end. Dad: did you like that or was that something you didn’t like? Griff: I like it. Dad: Ok.
What’s new
Josh – well, tap-dancing and singing penguins. That’s new. This really was another step forward in animation. It is pretty fun just to look at.
Gibson – When they ran into the elephant seals
Griffin – I like the elephant was not saying “uuuuunnnnhhhh” (elephant noise)
What’s the last word
Josh – Good ending. Somewhat predictable, but that’s not really a criticism in a kids movie.
Gibson – Good.
Griffin - Good
Who you should bring
Josh – Kids….older than 2. It isn’t terribly scary or hard to follow, so young children will probably enjoy this more than the older ones. It may appear to be a musical and while there is lots of music in it, it isn’t the full on Little Mermaid or anything, so Dad’s might like this one more than the average movie of this type.
Gibson – Douglas, Jake, and …ummm…Lawrence. (Gibson’s friends from Church)
Griffin – Jennifer, Tony and we can have Pizza and have Sprite and that’s all (Tony and Jennifer are Douglas’ parents, so apparently, my boys feel it would be a big hit with them).
Where you should watch
Josh – This is a great movie visually and especially the scenes with the seals and the killer whales will be much better on a big screen. It’s worth the theater prices.
Gibson – In the theater
Griffin – At home downstairs
What’s the couch rating
Josh – Well, we tend not to watch these kinds of movies late at night without the kids, so this hasn’t really been put to the test. That said, my wife would have dug this movie and stayed awake.
Gibson – She wouldn’t fall asleep because she would probably like, Julia the girl penguin.
Griffin – Dad: Do you think Mommy would like it? Grif: Yes. Dad: Do you think she would fall asleep? Griff: Yes.
What my gut tells me
Josh – We all came out tap dancing. You can’t come out of this one feeling bad. If you do, go directly to someone who can prescribe you something.
Gibson – Good
Griffin – What? Good. The end.
What it’s like
Josh – with it’s incorporation of modern pop songs into large musical numbers it is a bit like Moulin Rouge, except not heinous and painful to watch. It is a little irreverent, not as much as Shrek but more than say, finding Nemo.
Gibson – I have not seen any movies like this one.
Griffin – Bruder (Brother) is not sharing my toy.
Where it rates
Josh – For this kind of movie, I would give it an 8. Worth seeing if you have kids.
Gibson – 10, but the chasing by the leopard seals, that part was a 1
Griffin – 1, 2, 4, 6, 13.
My youngest son Griffin on the other hand, will not sit still…ever….for any reason….no matter what. He just turned 3 and seems to be taking a greater interest in TV and movies so we decided to take him to see Cars a few months back. Great movie which he seemed to enjoy, but it really only held his attention for about 45 minutes. After that, he was much more amused by the fact that his seat flipped up and down and that he was getting to eat candy and should probably ask the others in the theater if they wanted some.
So, it was with some trepidation that I took the boys to see Happy Feet. But several months had passed and with a 2-3 year old he changes dramatically about every 15 minutes. In fact, we practically have to reintroduce ourselves every day when I get home, which he does these days by hiding under the coffee table when I come in and saying “I’m not going to give you a hug.” It warms the heart. Anyway, he seemed to have changed in that he was much more able to watch movies for a longer period of time…or so I thought. Plus, he had somehow become aware of Happy Feet, no doubt because you can not walk 10 steps in suburban America without being blasted by adds for whatever the newest animated kids flick is.
Well, Happy Feet was good, and I think Griffin even liked it, but he’s still not movie ready. I say all of that only to say that even while wrestling a 2 year old and trying to translate some story lines for a 6 year old in a theater filled with noisy young children, I still thought the movie was pretty dang good, and that’s saying something.
But, even though I enjoyed it, what you really need to know is whether its target audience liked it. So, even though my usual crack correspondent team of my son Gibson and his buddy Douglas isn’t available (Douglas hasn’t yet seen it), I’m going to go forward with the up and coming tandem of Gibson and Griffin for this one. As I’ve done once before, I’m going to let them do the review. I will list my responses and then their responses when I asked them questions like, what was the movie about, what was your favorite part, etc.
What it’s about
Josh – This movie is about animated (in every sense) penguins. They all sing. I don’t know if you knew that, but penguins are all great singers favoring primarily American pop songs. They sing to find their soul mates. The details on how that works are a bit fuzzy, but frankly the revelation that all penguins are beautiful singers was stunning enough without learning every nuance of this beautiful mystery of nature. Anyway, the story revolves around a newborn penguin that can not sing. This tragic twist of fate leaves him unable to find his soul mate. Soon he discovers that, while he can’t sing, he can tap dance. As I’m sure you can imagine, hilarity ensues.
Gibson – Its about a little penguin that runs away and tries to find….no wait, backspace all of that…He finds these little penguins that speak espanol. They take him to Lovelace because he doesn’t know people and wants to find them. And while he’s doing that, he gets chased by a leopard seal and then…ummm…ok, that’s all.
Griffin – When that little big egg came out he body, when he walks down a doggy runs and runs faster and faster and that’s all.
What’s to like
Josh – Incrdible animation. Seriously, amazing stuff. Remember how that opening race sequence in Cars looked like they had spliced in some real footage in parts? Well there is a scene in this movie that I seriously could not tell whether I was seeing actual footage of Antarctica or if it was still animated.
The Hispanic accented side characters. Hilarious.
The premise. It’s not the traditional tap-dancing penguin outsider movie. This one really adds some interesting twists on that old genre
The rapping penguin
The seal chase scene. Think you can’t make a seal look mean…think again.
Gibson – When one of the little penguins says “sometimes I trick myself. Oh look up there..aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” I think he had orange hair, but I’m not sure.
Griffin – (rapping) “Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge, we’re tryin’ not to lose our heads.”
What I could have done without
Josh – It was a bit slow at times, especially toward the end. One of the penguins has one of those plastic things that hold a 6 pack together. My Dad for years has cut those things up before throwing them away and lectured me sternly that I should do the same. I couldn’t help but suspect that he found a way to get that added to the movie just to make his point to me.
Gibson – I didn’t like when he got chased by the leopard seal. That was very, very scary.
Griffin – I liked the part when they walked like this (walking like a penguin). Dad: What didn’t you like? Grif: I like the dolphin with his flat belly, the end. Dad: did you like that or was that something you didn’t like? Griff: I like it. Dad: Ok.
What’s new
Josh – well, tap-dancing and singing penguins. That’s new. This really was another step forward in animation. It is pretty fun just to look at.
Gibson – When they ran into the elephant seals
Griffin – I like the elephant was not saying “uuuuunnnnhhhh” (elephant noise)
What’s the last word
Josh – Good ending. Somewhat predictable, but that’s not really a criticism in a kids movie.
Gibson – Good.
Griffin - Good
Who you should bring
Josh – Kids….older than 2. It isn’t terribly scary or hard to follow, so young children will probably enjoy this more than the older ones. It may appear to be a musical and while there is lots of music in it, it isn’t the full on Little Mermaid or anything, so Dad’s might like this one more than the average movie of this type.
Gibson – Douglas, Jake, and …ummm…Lawrence. (Gibson’s friends from Church)
Griffin – Jennifer, Tony and we can have Pizza and have Sprite and that’s all (Tony and Jennifer are Douglas’ parents, so apparently, my boys feel it would be a big hit with them).
Where you should watch
Josh – This is a great movie visually and especially the scenes with the seals and the killer whales will be much better on a big screen. It’s worth the theater prices.
Gibson – In the theater
Griffin – At home downstairs
What’s the couch rating
Josh – Well, we tend not to watch these kinds of movies late at night without the kids, so this hasn’t really been put to the test. That said, my wife would have dug this movie and stayed awake.
Gibson – She wouldn’t fall asleep because she would probably like, Julia the girl penguin.
Griffin – Dad: Do you think Mommy would like it? Grif: Yes. Dad: Do you think she would fall asleep? Griff: Yes.
What my gut tells me
Josh – We all came out tap dancing. You can’t come out of this one feeling bad. If you do, go directly to someone who can prescribe you something.
Gibson – Good
Griffin – What? Good. The end.
What it’s like
Josh – with it’s incorporation of modern pop songs into large musical numbers it is a bit like Moulin Rouge, except not heinous and painful to watch. It is a little irreverent, not as much as Shrek but more than say, finding Nemo.
Gibson – I have not seen any movies like this one.
Griffin – Bruder (Brother) is not sharing my toy.
Where it rates
Josh – For this kind of movie, I would give it an 8. Worth seeing if you have kids.
Gibson – 10, but the chasing by the leopard seals, that part was a 1
Griffin – 1, 2, 4, 6, 13.
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