Movie Night: Happy Feet.

Review #392: Happy Feet.

Cast
Elijah Wood (Mumble), Brittany Murphy (Gloria), Robin Williams (Ramón and Lovelace), Hugh Jackman (Memphis), Nicole Kidman (Norma Jean), Hugo Weaving (Noah the Elder), and Carlos Alazraqui (Nestor) Directed by George Miller (#380 - Mad Max)

Review
Happy Feet to me is a bit of an odd shell compared to other animated films. But hey, I have a soft spot for weirdness as long as it works out well and manages overcome awkwardness. Does this do that, or not is the underlying question. And it...mostly does. It starts out okay, even if it contains my least favorite cliche of the moment where "the character different from everyone else" is embarrassed which goes slowly and annoys me, but that could just be a matter of opinion. The film gets better as it goes on, skipping over speed bumps, and having an entertaining value to it, with some good dancing, which was done by motion capture, which isn't creepy, as it shows that motion capture does have some benefits. Elijah Wood does good, certainly a million times better from his last performance reviewed here (#363 - North), and Murphy does well. Robin Williams does stand out, even more given he plays two characters, and he does an alright job, not annoying, just fine. The animation is good, as it does a good job being a centerpiece, but no the whole thing to, a developed animated film that works well, and it can be entertaining, with some fine song choices all in all. Countdown to 400 Reviews: 10, 9, 8...

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.