Happy Feet

I hated Happy Feet. I knew I would. Knew it. But... it got almost universally good reviews. And it was directed by George Miller (the crafter of the Mad Max series). That alone should allow him the benefit of the doubt (is that really the saying? The more I think about it, the less sense it makes). And I don't think I could hear more enthusiastic praise for Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, especially the latter which is apparently crazy dark for a kids film. Both of those are on my Netflix queue, incidentally.

But it had an even greater hurdle to push pass my defenses: I hate musicals. And this was the worst kind, at least in my mind. It was all pop songs refigured and sung by other people (I wonder if the creator of Glee was taking notes). And if the commercials were any indication, they used only songs I hated. Oh boy.

But I put my pre-conceived notions in my pocket, keeping them close by just in case, and went to see Happy Feet with my family. When the lights finally came back up, the consensus of the family was that it just wasn't that good, with me probably the most vigorous detractor. Everything I feared I would hate I did. Did I mention that I hate movies that posit that dancing is the ultimate joy to be found in life (I know that's not exactly what Happy Feet is saying, but it ends with a huge penguin dance scene that eventually saves the icy island on which the penguins live and the surly elder penguins are finally won over by the power of the dance, so I think the point still stands)?

So, yeah, I hate Happy Feet. But. I admire that it's willing to go incredibly dark and have the main penguin go catatonic in captivity. Also, there's a great unmentioned message that I've only seen one other place, though now that time has passed, it may be more discussed: Happy Feet is basically a feature-length renouncement of organized religion. I won't go into the details here, but watch it again. Even with my heathenistic beliefs, I was shocked at how blatant the film was regarding this matter. I give Happy Feet mad props for having several Big Issues on its mind (the other is the environmental message that you kind of expect). I hate it, but I respect it.

All of that is to say that the trailer for Happy Feet Two (in 3-D!) is online (notice the gut wrenchingly precious "Novemburr." For the love of god, if you're going to do it, at least go with "Novembrr"! As it stands, it looks like we're finally getting that Aaron Burr biopic in November we've been asking for since those "Got Milk?" commercials). Once again, it was written and directed by George Miller and having watched the trailer, I want to claw my eyes and ears out. It seems even more Glee-tastic (mostly because that wasn't a thing when the original was released) and a hundred time more annoying, and the first one had Robin Williams! Oh wait... so does this. I honestly can't imagine how George Miller can get a second story out of Happy Feet. But I'm curious. The masochist in me kind of wants to see Happy Feet Two just to find out what sort of subversive elements he's put in.

I hate Happy Feet. But I'm curious...