I recently had the opportunity to see the animated feature,
Happy Feet.
Let me start off by saying I had a preconceived notion that this movie was going to be terrible.
What led to me dreading this musical mush-fest of animated schlock was based entirely on the marketing campaign. The trailers they decided to show leading up to the movies theatrical release left me shaking my head. Who would want sit through an hour and a half of penguins doing song and dance numbers?
It was official. Hollywood had finally gone off the deep end and were willing to produce any piece of crap that was 3D animated in hopes of cashing in on the money train that is computer generated animation.
But, then the box office numbers came in. It was number one. Doing really good numbers.
What could it mean? Probably just the throngs of families taking their kids to the next animated show. People who don't necessarily care about the animated film as an art form but consider it "for the kids".
Fair enough.
But them some friends started telling me how good it was. Then my wife went to see it with some friends and their little boy. She said it was really good too! Now, my wife and I have very similar tastes in movies and I trust her above everyone else.
My resolve was starting to crack.
Just to be sure, I checked
rottentomatoes and sure enough, it had a 70%. Pretty good score.
Ok, you win. I'll go see for myself.
Bo am I glad I did. What the marketing campaign failed so completely to convey was that there was an actual story beyond the mocapped dance routines. There were characters to relate to and care about. There was even some moral and social commentary if you don't mind that sort of thing (I don't as long as it isn't preachy and condescending - and this isn't)
The look of the film was some of the best rendering and cinematography I have ever scene in a computer generated film. Visuals were done by
Animal Logic out of Australia. Holy cow guys! FANTASTIC WORK!
I won't get into the details of the movie but I will say it's worth checking out. It's absolutely visually stunning. A masterpiece.
The writing and vocal performances were also very solid. It's definitely a purchase for me when it comes out on DVD.
I was a little concerned about all the popular music selections they included in the film. I generally hate pop culture references as they tend to be week writing and are an easy hook based on nostalgia or current affairs. Think of a rock band saying the name of the town they are playing in. Guaranteed cheer. Or a standup comic mentioning they just got married or had a baby. Cue applause. No jokes required!
But it works in this film. And do you know why? Because it serves the story. The main plot device centers around penguins choosing their soul mates by having a unique song that attracts that one special aquatic bird for them.
The music wasn't a cheap gag that sidelines the story and takes the audience out of the film for a few moments. The songs were RELEVANT.
Good on ya
George Miller.
So, go check out Happy Feet. Do a little dance...make a little love...Get Down Tonight!
Recently (the past year or so) I have discovered the fantastic web browser, Firefox, by Mozilla. It's a terrific alternative to Internet Explorer and it's "open source" with lots of add ons called themes and extensions. I added the Blue Ice theme to customize the look of my browser and I've added some nifty extensions like Skype (makes phone numbers on websites appear as Skype Out links so you can call them directly using Skype), Performancing (blog editor that I am using for the first time with this entry, so we'll see how it goes), ForecastFox (allows me to set up profiles for different areas and gives me up to the minute weather information for those cities and forecasts for the days to come) and there are many more. Very cool.
You scored as Capt. Lee Adama (Apollo). You have spent your life trying to life up to and impress your Dad, shame he never seemed to notice. You are a stickler for the rules. But in matters of loyalty and honour you know when they have to be broken.
