Happy Feet Penguins

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

The Cartoon

Happy Feet, 2006

The Plot

A colony of emperor penguins living in Antarctica cast out one of their own because he cannot sing and it’s their belief that he’s casting misfortune on the colony.

Starring

Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Nicole Kidman, Lombardo Boyar, Johnny A. Sanchez, and more.

Review

Happy Feet starts out as a cute film aimed at young children, but loses its charm towards the end when it decides to shift gears and introduce a heated debate over who should take care of the environment. That having been said, I wouldn’t begrudge anyone from watching Happy Feet.

It's about a young penguin named Mumble who becomes an outcast simply because he CANNOT sing. The colony of emperor penguins values their traditions, especially their voices—voices that not only carry beautiful, heartfelt tunes, but voices that unite each other in harmony and help one another find their soul mates. So it’s no surprise when the colony exiles Mumble—blaming him for the colony’s misfortune and accusing him of being no-good.

Saddened, Mumble leaves the colony, taking his "heart song"—his toe tapping dances—with him. Determined to conquer the world, Mumble’s optimism takes him on a journey that transforms his life forever. He meets another colony of penguins, and for the first time in his young life, discovers what true friendship is.

Determined to discover what lies beyond his homeland, Mumble sets foot for unchartered territories, and ends up captured and placed in a zoo. But his "feet movements" set him free. And in the end, it's his "feet movements" that save the colony of emperor penguins from starvation and distinction. Just goes to show that wonderful things come in all sizes, shapes, and packages!

Your Task

How many times do we hold a "prejudice" over a person simply because we don't like the way he looks, the way she dresses, or the way he acts? How many times do we prejudge or throw someone into a stereo-typical mold only to be "corrected" later? How many times have we shamefully had to say, “I’m sorry” because we didn't look within and only looked at the exterior?

Watch this film with your youth group, child’s classroom, or even a group of family and friends. Then open up discussion to discuss how we can learn to look past our preconceived notions of people and look deeper, into their hearts. Talk about what happens when we wrongly accuse people, when we push them out of our lives because they won’t conform to our ways, or when we completely ignore them. Talk about feelings that are hurt and talk about ways to heal the hurts that have already been done.