(Source: Coming Soon)
Warner Bros. has launched the official website for the upcoming animated penguin comedy Happy Feet. The site boasts multiple video footage, photos, wallpapers, buddy icons and screensavers. WB also promises that they will shortly have some games and other activities.
The official plot summary goes as follows: "Happy Feet is set deep in Antarctica. Into the land of Emperor Penguins, where each needs a heart song to attract a soul mate, a penguin is born who cannot sing. Our hero Mumble, son of Memphis and Norma Jean, is the worst singer in the world...however, as it happens, he is a brilliant tap dancer!"
After watching the main page trailer, I have only two words: THIS SUCKS!!!!! Throw every cliché "underdog beats the odds and wins the girl" plot device into the mix, lather, rinse, repeat, and you have this stinker. Having 4 writers (director George Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris, Warren Coleman) on a script is usually a bad sign, but this . . . jeez louise! I don't think even Robin Williams can save this turkey.
I know I'm getting very cynical about all these "wise-cracking animal" CG comedies hitting the silver screen these days. But Happy Feet would trigger my Stinker Sense™ in a big, bad, ugly way, no matter what genre it was playing in.
Not only that, the synopsis immediately reminded me of E.B. White's classic The Trumpet of the Swan. A disadvantaged animal learns a different way to communicate, in order to attract a mate? Hmm, the coincidences sure pile up, don't they?
Overall, this flick is not looking good. Good, bad, or just plain ugly, Happy Feet opens November 17.
