Posted on 12/03/2006 1:40:11 AM PST by MadIvan
It should be the ideal family film for Christmas: the animated adventures of a colony of penguins singing and dancing on the ice floes of Antarctica.
But just days ahead of its British release, Happy Feet is struggling to avoid an iceberg of its own, after Right-wing critics accused it of targeting youngsters with anti-mankind messages.
Commentators in the United States, where the film opened last month, have labelled the plot – penguins struggling to survive man's wrecking of their ecosystem – as pro-green propaganda hidden in a children's adventure.
Fox News presenter Neil Cavuto said: "What I found offensive is that they shove this in a kids' movie – you hear the penguins are starving because of mean old man, mean old companies."
CNN talk show host Glenn Beck added: "If you're going to include those themes, the least you could do is tell me, a parent, so I know I'm walking into propaganda."
The film, which stars the voices of Hollywood A-listers Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Robin Williams, is seen by studio Warner Bros as a rival to new Bond film Casino Royale at the British box office.
Alan Horn, the studio's president and chief executive and the founder of the Environmental Media Association which advises the industry on green themes, said: "There is a very strong environmental message but it's couched in the context of entertainment and a story that's personal and I think the film's over-riding message is that it's okay to be different."
Good grief! The rest of your description was bad enough, but WTF?
But wait a minute ... isn't that just their plot for the world - we'll all eat fish halal food and happily dance pray five times a day ... ;)
(I meant of course your description of the "plot" of the film, not the description itself!)
It's true-right at the end it shows people blathering under the UN Symbol-then a joint resolution to halt fishing hear the penguins home.
Then the penguins eating fish, dancing and singing.
I told my kids the UN couldn't organize a one car funeral procession.
I saw March Of The Penguins. Penguins die every year because they live in a harsh environment and don't eat for MONTHS at a time.
The Shakleton expedition also got stuck for 2 years in such a harsh climate. Miraculously none of the crew died while they were stuck down there. Death is NATURAL. Everything dies eventually. March of the Penguins showed death. Shouldn't the filmmakers have been chastised for not doing enough to save the penguins?
Does Happy Feet include the threats to penguins that do not include men and corporations?
WAIT A SECOND HERE!
The UN intervenes to stop the evil Americans from fishing near the penguins and then the penguins proceed to KILL THE FISH? Like Nemo?
Cute little fish?
The penguins kill cute little fish? When is the UN going to put a stop to this species holocaust?
Especially when wrapped in rice, dipped in wasabi mixed with soy sauce, and served with a side of pickled ginger.
And they do not portray Shamu as the happy little friendly thing that's at Sea world either. They show the killer whale as it is in nature-deserving of the name.
Lots of mixed messages-very inconsistent. Just a very screwed up movie.
The real fantasy is that the UN got a damn thing done other than bloviating
The Royale http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/episode/68382.html was an episode of Star Trek:The Next Generation. It was a parody of the last part of 2001:A Space Odyssey
But, getting back to the penguin movie, it is clearly bait and switch. When I first saw the trailer, I thought it was an advertisement for a soft drink. The commercials on television show it as Busby Berkeley on ice, not a Greenpeace production.
I took my grandones to see "Flushed Away" instead of "Happy Feet."
I have to admit that even I LOLed at that one.
Bumping your Python sketch.
It put a big smile on my face. ;o)
Yes, including Skuas, (Seagulls), Leopard Seals, Killer Whales, and the danger of letting an egg cool.
If anyone should be upset, it should be the photographers of "March of the Penguins," who had to undergo the same ordeals as the penguins they were photographing.
The "Happy Feet" people just used computers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.