KEY POINTS:
Your feet may come out happy - for this avalanche of animated Antarctic anthropomorphism is nothing if not toe-tapping.
It's just the rest that might be left feeling a little numb. If not by the icy setting then by the length and a third act which feels more
like the start of a darker sequel - a sort of Babe: Pig in the City to its Babe - than a satisfactory resolution of its initial story.
All of which may leave Happy Feet's target audience a little, er, polarised.
There's plenty to love about the song and dance numbers in the first hour-plus, the action sequences whether on the ice or flying in the water beneath it, and the creature animation, which aside from its many penguins will make you look at leopard and elephant seals in a whole new, digital motion-captured light.
But in a screening crowded with kids, you could feel the enthusiasm dissipate with half an hour to go. Especially in some latter scenes which swap film-buff indulgences (a captured penguin sounds like 2001 computer Hal) for gags, while scaring kids from wanting to go to Kelly Tarlton's ever again.
Happy Feet starts off telling the story of Mumbles, a tone-deaf bird who, unlike the others in his Emperor penguin flock, has a natural talent for rhythm over melody. So instead of finding his "heartsong" to find a lifetime mate, he tap-dances his way to ostracism.
As the stern penguin elders put their unhappy feet down, you almost expect Footloose to hit the soundtrack among the pop classics but, alas, it never comes.
There's also plenty of time for Robin Williams to voice two penguin characters (one speaking Spanglish, the other Barry White) in a sideshow that reminds you, that, yes this is just a cartoon.
Meanwhile, maybe it's the proximity to the pole but the story's compass seems to swing wildly. It makes a clunky transition from being about Mumbles' fight for his right to be a Thumper rather than just another Bambi and to woo childhood sweetheart Gloria, to having him trying to find out about those alien creatures taking all the fish. Cue Mumbles, eco warrior - the emperor strikes back.
Yes, it looks wonderful, starts out with an infectious energy and is clever in its music choices. But its story is overstretched, prone to distraction and too earnest for its own good. It's equally eye and ear-catching but exhausting.
Voices: Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman
Director: George Miller
Rating: G
Running time: 108 mins
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas from Boxing Day
Verdict: Singing and dancing penguins. How can it fail? By trying to be An Inconvenient Truth for kids as well as Moulin Rouge on ice.
