Hey folks, Valkor here stomp his feet to the funky, funky
beat. I was able to lay my hands up on a Blu Ray disc that not only can I sing
along too, but also groove too. Toss in a bunch of penguins and hey you have “Happy
Feet”, a CGI film from the guy who did Mad Max, George Miller and while the
Disc isn’t anything to write home about, the movie is all the fun you’ll need.
The Film
Happy Feet tells the story of Mumble (Voiced by Elijah Wood), a penguin who amongst his breed can’t sing. You see each penguin has their own unique song their “Heart Song” if you will, and they use this song to find a mate. But Mumble can’t sing to save his life. But what he can do is dance. He uses this talent to get out of some funky situation, but his clan thinks it’s the devil and its because of his dancing that the fish have gone. But Mumble thinks otherwise and sets out to find what happened to the missing fish.
I have to say I Happy Feet kicked my ass. I thought it would be so-so, or slightly entertaining at best, but I found myself at moments blasting the soundtrack of familiar songs such as “Boogie Wonderland” and “Somebody to Love”. I was equally impressed with the voice work of the characters. If I didn’t look at the credits I would have no idea Nicole Kidman voiced the illustrious Norma Jean and Hugh Jackman does honky tonky Memphis, E.G. Daily (Voice of Babe) does baby Mumble, and we can’t forget the always hilarious Robin Williams who does double duty and brings his comedy A-game to the table as Guru LoveLace and Ramon. Perfect cast, perfect song and sweet CGI animation makes it the perfect film. For that alone the Blu Ray is worth picking up.
Audio/Video
The disc is presented in Hi-def 1080p, 16x9, 2:4:1 aspect ratio. Visually the Hi-def format works wonders for CGI as you can lots of detail in the pic such as the fuzz on Mumble, the scratches on the killer whales, even how the snow kicks up when Mumble dances. Its gorgeous! Audio wise, you got your Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, which really brings out the music and the toe tapping. It would be nice to have the lossless of Dolby TrueHD, but this works well and I expect Warner to double dip this one and not just for the lack of audio options.
The Extras
Yes the disc also lacks in the extras department. First you get one completely finished scenes not included in the original film. The first is “Mumble meets a Blue Whale”. This scene was scrapped in favor of the Sea Lions scene, but as Mumble makes his way to the boats to get back the missing fish, he meets a Big Blue Whale an al Albatross voiced by the late Steve Irwin. Its cute, but I like the Sea Lion scene better. The second scene is just a quick vid of baby Mumble being kicked around like a soccor ball. You also get two music videos (Gia Farrel and Prince). One theatrical trailer, Dance like a Penguin featurette, starring Savion Glover, and finally and this is a plus in my book Classic Looney Tunes “I love to singa”. It goes perfectly with Happy Feet as it tells the tale of a new born baby owl that’s different from his brethren.
Though it lacks in the extras, Happy Feet is a fun film worthy of picking up, unless of course you’re they type that needs all the extras, but you’ll be missing out on a crazy good time. Dancing and singing penguins? It’s a can’t miss! Overall I gotta give Happy Feet 4 stars, and its been Valkor tested and TOV approved.
