Happy Feet

What’s it about?

Mumble is a young emperor penguin and the only child of Norma Jean and Memphis. Unlike his famous parents, Mumble can’t sing despite trying his hardest. His parents plead with him to try and sing and they get him teachers and voice instructors but none can help. Mumble has no song in him. What Mumble can do though is dance, but he’s afraid to let anyone know this because he feels like an outcast.

By chance, Mumble comes across a group of hip Latino penguins, led by Ramon. Mumble learns that his dancing skills are really very good and something to be proud of. Mumble though still feels like he has to prove something to his community so he goes off in search of the reason why fish are becoming scarce. This takes Mumble further away than any of his kind have gone before and he discovers that he has many talents and abilities that will help his penguin colony to survive.

What to look out for

There are several scenes where animals are in danger which might scare younger kids such as:

• As a baby, Mumble is attacked and chased by a flock of mean birds. He falls into a crevice where he is safe from the birds but is scared, shivering and alone.
• Mumble is chased by a vicious leopard seal, with red evil eyes and yellow gnashing teeth. A terrified Mumble leaps through the air barely escaping the seals’ jaws as he is chased over the ice, under the ice, through tunnels and open sea.

• Two killer whales ‘play’ with Lovelace and Mumble before trying to eat them. They are bashed by tails, tossed back and forth between mouths, nearly eaten and then spat out. One of the whales tries to tear out Mumble’s feathers as he tries to escape

Moral of the Story

The message of the story is that everyone has their own gifts and talents which are different from others. We should respect each other’s gifts and abilities.