Seen: March 28th, 2007
Format: DVD
Rating: 6
Here's an absolutely wonderful animated piece.
There's anthropomorphized penguins with stylized and recognizable personalities. Their society is well realized and the story compelling. It may rely on a tried and true foundation, but the theme of embracing your idiosyncrasies and being true to yourself is timeless. Finding friends who appreciate you, finding your way back to your parents' hearts, succeeding in your own way, its all there and well executed.
The voice talent is top-notch. Robin Williams is so good it hurts a little, taking on multiple roles. Elijah Wood is an interesting choice. I'd have preferred someone a little more animated (pun intended), but he definitely nails the humble side of Mumbles. Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Brittney Murphy are also spot on. The supporting cast delivers as well.
The music is to die for. The range is wide, the performances stellar. The integration of the music with the story and animation is seamless. It's all a bit far-fetched, but then so are talking, singing penguins, and it works well in the provided framework. I liked the interpretations of the songs. They were fresh takes on old favorites and well arranged and produced.
And then there's the animation. Character development was very good. Again, Mumble was a bit awkward and flat, but that, again, befits his character. The movements of the various creatures generally carried an air of authenticity. This really delineated the individual species, again enhancing and sharpening the individual characters. Special note should be made of Savion Glover, who did the choreography for Mumble, and I must assume danced for the motion capture.
*** And now a word from our sponsor ***
Right in the middle of all this singing, dancing, action-packed coming of age experience, a stinker gets dropped. When we've finally bought in to the whole scenario, identified with the characters and their issues, we have a message thrust in our face.
Depending on how you feel about this message, you might call this film educational, enlightening, agenda driven or even propaganda. Regardless of your opinion, this injection of a stance on a issue peripherally associated to the story comes as a shock and derails the film.
Perhaps this is the intent, to shake us out of our little entertainment induced stupor. But I, for one, was enjoying my stupor.
The extent of this meddling eventually extends to a jump-cut live action sequence of politicians debating the issue. It's was so out of place that I immediately dis-engaged. I can't believe that children would get this (confirmed by my friend's 4 year old) and might even frighten some as the arguments are heated.
I smell some fiscal infiltration here. An exchange of financing for message inclusion, perhaps. While it is integral to the latter part of the story, it distinctly feels grafted on.
In the end, it impacts my rating quite a bit. I'm of the show me don't tell me school, and having proselytizing so crudely and artlessly shoved into the middle of my entertainment is definitely a downer.
The Good: Animation, Story, Music and Voice Talent.
The Bad: Art imitates Frankenstein
The Ugly: -2 Rating for being annoying
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