This weekend we went to the movies to see Happy Feet. I was looking forward to it. Penguins, dance numbers, music, PG rating, what more could a movie have to entertain the senses? Well for one, more dancing and singing penguins. I was disappointed. Instead, what I got was mostly long-ass public service announcements about living a politically correct, ecology friendly lifestyles blah, blah, blah.
My family of course thinks I am a wet blanket and I always just have to get annoyed at the political messages, but I asked them "were the messages there or not?" They were. So I can be insulted if I want to. Still, I suppose if you are not fed up and cynical with that sort of thing, you might truly enjoy the film.
If you do not want to hear me whine, I think the Kansas City Star's review is quite accurate:
But despite a great look and some nifty action sequences, this computer-animated effort doesn’t click. It piles lots of contemporary issues on what should be a simple children’s fable and becomes an overlong, emotionally muted and tiresome epic.
It wasn't just "ecology" lessons involved. There were other undertones, such as the elders who wouldn't stray from their old ways, and kept referring to foreigners as "pagans". Yawn
I think what bothers me most is not the message itself that they are trying to get across (well yeah, a little), but the fact that every childfren's movie, or TV show or whatever cannot just be entertaining anymore. That someone out there truly feels we have to be politically educated every single minute of everyday or else something horrible happen. I wouldn't mind as much if they inundated our children with times tables as they political correctness.
You know though. I mean is everyone in the general IQ all so stupid all the time that we need one more message about the environment or how terrible calling people bad names is?
I thought not, but you know what? I was wrong! Especially for a Catholic! Bishop Katharine Schori says so! (I had to throw that in).
Update:Michael Medved's review