Happy Feet

We finally went to see Happy Feet. For a movie about a half-fledged Emperor Penguin chick at odds with the monotheistic elders of the Emperor Nation because the chick can tapdance but can't carry a tune, who then meets up with a group of macho Adelie males to go on a quest to find why the fish are depleted, and who somehow manages not to fully fledge through what appears to be at least a full year, the movie gets a lot of things right about penguins. Granted, most of it would not be new to people who have seen March of the Penguins, but at least the filmmakers took into consideration that the general public is more penguin savvy since MOTP and would notice if they took too many liberties with the penguin facts. Sure, there is that whole "Penguin elementary school" bit, but that isn't too far removed from the creches that juveniles huddle in while both parents are at sea. As with MOTP, the movie makes a little more of the strength of the pair bond than is actually there. I'm still torn about the dramatic necessity of The Great Guin, too, but it was nice to see accurate depictions of five different penguin species.

I did have a few beefs with the movie, though:

1. Mumble should have frozen to death at least four times before Elijah Wood took over the voice acting.
2. There were a lot more adult penguins hanging about the colony at any given time than there should have been.
3. Elephant seals tend to fight off other males encroaching on their harem area; rather than chatting up an errant penguin, the three or four male elephant seals would have been trying to rip each others' flanks off.
   
4. Given the apparent age of the chicks in the scene, no one would risk a helicopter flight just for penguin observation at that time of year.
   
5. Guidelines require two-engine helicopters to keep a minimum distance of just under a mile from wildlife concentrations, and fly at an altitude of at least 3,000 feet above any wildlife concentration. That helicopter was violating just about every protocol for not disturbing the wildlife.
6. Most of the environmental problems encountered in the course of Mumble's quest have been subject to regulation by the Antarctic treaty since 1959. An addendum dealing with fishing was added in 1980, although the toothfish (aka Chilean Sea Bass) is still imperiled by overfishing. People eat those more than penguins do.