George Miller on Happy Feet
Happy Feet director sounds off on his new movie
Sep 5, 2006 Dominic von Riedemann
(Source: USA Today)
It's always fascinating to hear a director or actor justify his latest project, especially when that movie seems "tainted" in some way. A prime example was when an actress attached to the atrocious fad-exploitation flick Lambada tried to give that film some social value by saying, "it ends with a math test!"
Which brings us to George Miller (Babe), the director of the upcoming Happy Feet. At first glance, this looks like a cynical attempt to cash in on the surprising success of March of the Penguins. It doesn't help that Dreamworks' hit Madagascar also used animated penguins to great comedic effect.
Miller counters this impression by claiming that Happy Feet was in production long before March of the Penguins ever reached theatres. Fair enough, but then Miller raises eyebrows by claiming that Warner Bros. honcho Alan Horn only bought March "because he had seen our footage and was sensitized to how interesting penguins were." Sure, buddy.
So what is Happy Feet about? According to Miller, it's about misfit penguin Mumble (Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood) who finds he can't attract a mate. Real penguins use a distinctive squawk to attract a partner; Miller changed this to a "heartsong," a distinctive tune crafted to woo that special someone. These songs just happen to be former Top 10 hits from The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Prince, Queen and Stevie Wonder, because nothing says "I love you" quite like karaoke.
However, poor Mumble can't sing, so he has to use his tap-dancing ability to get a mate. To that end, Miller used motion-capture technology on dancer Savion Glover (Bamboozled) so they could translate his moves to animation, replacing the metallic clatter of his tap shoes with penguin toenails.
As you've probably guessed, Happy Feet isn't on my "must see" list: there are just too many elements that are pulling me out of this movie. Obviously I'd love to be proved wrong about this flick, but as I hear more about Happy Feet, this scenario is looking less and less likely.
You can see the rest of the George Miller interview here. Happy Feet opens November 17.
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