"Happy Feet, is “the darkest, most disturbing feature-length animated film ever offered"

[Bluebear]

:eyes:

• And those penguins Coke is currently using in its marketing? Also evil: The No. 1 movie in America, the animated Happy Feet, is “the darkest, most disturbing feature-length animated film ever offered by a major studio,” according to movie critic Michael Medved. “Happy Feet deserves designation as Crappy Feet.” He also says the CGI flick exudes “anti-religious bias” and “endorsement of gay identity,” as well as a “propagandistic theme that suggests the biggest menace for the lovable penguins is the human race.” Conservative talker Glenn Beck was more to the point: “An animated version of An Inconvenient Truth.” ....

http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2006/fbytes_2006-11-30.cfm

[Warren DeMontague]

1. If these chowderheads keep talking it up, I'm gonna have to take the family. nt

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. And I thought

it was just another stupid cartoon.

[Beam Me Up]

37. Yeah. Suddenly I'm interested. Maybe its worthy looking at? n/t

[atommom]

2. That kicks ass. I'll use it as part of my War on Christmas this year.

:evilgrin:

[Uncle Joe]

3. Well with those recommendations, I will definitely make a point

of viewing this movie, and I don't generally watch children's programming.

Kicked and recommended

[OnionPatch]

80. My thoughts exactly!

If they hate it, it's probably really good! I didn't know this movie actually teaches something important and serious. I'll have to take my six-year-old to see it for sure now. :)

[sui generis]

4. ha ha haha hahahahaha

Wonder what their critique of Wizard of Oz looks like.

Or what about, Roots. "anti-cracker bias" "endorsement of black identity"

I'll bet they fucking HATED charlotte's web.

"anti-farm bias" "endorsement of pig identity"

Who cares what those assholes think. Here's what I think and you can quote me on this:

Assholes are like snowflakes . . . .

[Ken Burch]

19. The Wizard of Oz? I can tell you what they'd say...

"anti-fascist monkey bias"
"endorsement of Munchkin identity"

That, and JUDY GARLAND was in it(helloooo....!)singing lyrics written by a SOCIALIST!(E.Y. Harburg).

[Abuhans]

5. My mom saw it, pro-immigration

The film apparently shows the irony between an older generation of penguins with Irish accents angry about new immigrant penguins with hispanic accents.

[Lex]

8. It's like a magic film--everyone sees what they are afraid of?

Idiot Glen Beck on CNN thinks it's "An Inconvenient Truth" in animated form because it's about global warming (according to him).

Maybe next I'll hear someone thinks it's pro-gay marriage or abortion.

[Critters2]

107. I thought the older penguin's accent was Scottish

and only one had that accent. The Latino penguins were rockhoppers (the wise one with the 6-pack plastic around his neck) and Humboldts. These live in Chile, so of course they speak Spanish!!

[On the Road]

6. Well, My Daughter Thought

"March of the Penguins" was the darkest, most disturbing feature-length family movie ever created. Her theory is that "Happy Feet" was intended to be the movie March of the Penguins" was advertised as being.

[Alamom]

7. Geez..........I thought it was going to be a sweet movie about cute

little penguins with a good lesson for all about being different.

:sarcasm:

[Bluebear]

10. DARKSIDED!!!!! GARGOYLES!!!!!1111

[Occulus]

29. .

[Morgana LaFey]

88. Well, you see

that IS dark to the rightwing.

[Vinca]

9. Gay penguins??? This guy is seriously deranged. nt

[FredScuttle]

62. Hollywood has a dark, sinister history of celebrating gay penguins

Witness:

[Sabriel]

72. Yes, check out "The Celluloid Penguin Closet" n/t

[Ken Burch]

109. And "Brokeback Iceberg" n/t.

[Ken Burch]

111. And "To Chilly Willy, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" n/t.

[Porcupine]

64. So straight penguins would have had what? Machine guns? WTF?

This guy was seriously deranged. I saw the movie and saw zero gay anything. Rather the opposite; it was a penguin Gigdet movie.

[here_is_to_hope]

94. *snicker* as I wipe off the

screen....penguin Gidget....
My three year old and I saw it, she came away with a love for tap dancing and thats about it.
I saw nothing like dark nor evil.
Silly Medved.

[karlrschneider]

11. Well,damn. We haven't gone to a theater movie in 18 years but this is

too good to pass up! :D

[Bhaisahab]

78. haven't been to a theatre in 18 YEARS?

why do you hate america?

:)

[Greyskye]

101. My excuse

I have a kick-ass home theater setup, with better video and sound then the local multi-plexes. And I don't charge $5 for some :popcorn:

[hatrack]

13. Maybe they'll review my new movie, "Binky, The Brave Little Walrus Who Died"

Scientists have reported an unprecedented number of unaccompanied and possibly abandoned walrus calves in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice may be forcing mothers to abandon their pups as the mothers follow the rapidly retreating ice edge north.

Nine lone walrus calves were reported swimming in deep waters far from shore by researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a cruise in the Canada Basin in the summer of 2004. Unable to forage for themselves, the calves were likely to drown or starve, the scientists said.

Lone walrus calves far from shore have not been described before, the researchers report in the April issue of Aquatic Mammals. The sightings suggest that increased polar warming may lead to decreases in the walrus population. “We were on a station for 24 hours, and the calves would be swimming around us crying. We couldn’t rescue them,” said Carin Ashjian, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a member of the research team.

The researchers found evidence of warmer ocean temperatures that may have rapidly melted seasonal sea ice over the shallow continental shelf where walruses dive to feed on bottom-dwelling animals such as clams and crabs. Walrus need the ice to rest themselves and to leave the pups to rest while the mothers feed. Ice remained over very deep water.

EDIT

http://www.whoi.edu/mr/pr.do?id=12209



A walrus pup alone in the Arctic Ocean, one of nine calves seen swimming far from shore and presumed to have died. (Photo by Carin Ashjian, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Then I'll release my second planned animated feature, "Arnie The Albatross Who Starved To Death Because His Stomach Was Filled With Styrofoam Pellets And Garbage Dumped From Cargo Ships".

Medved and Beck can go and fuck themselves.

[phantom power]

97. Preach it, brother.

[Ken Burch]

110. You forgot "Sammy the Singing Salmon who Suffocated on a Six-Pack Holder".

(With an Oscar nominated score by Randy Newman, of course...)

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. NOTHING makes these miserable assholes happy! NOTHING!

GEEZUSKRIST! This just makes them look like the radical, unreasonable wacko nut jobs we all know they are. Dumb asses.

[symbolman]

42. Gimme a couple of Testicular Electrodes and a car battery

and I could make them SMILE, gee, like Bush's LAW of Torture I could get them to admit they are fucking DOROTHY from Wizard of OZ, and Refute the entire Right Wing while singing show tunes :)

But I would never do that, if I were KING...

[Bluebear]

65. ALWAYS hopping mad about something. ALWAYS looking for trouble.

To be so "saved" and so farkin' MISERABLE all the time.

[Orsino]

96. Nothing but conformity. n/t

[Guaranteed]

15. Michael Medved = movie critic? LOL nt

[Bluebear]

16. I thought that was rich too. nt

[greyl]

68. If Medved hates it, buy tickets. nt

[Tiggeroshii]

17. It got applause at the theatre I watched it at

located in the center of one of the most conservative areas in California.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. Uh, the biggest threat to penguins IS the human race!

It would be without global warming too! Dumbasses...

[Lisa]

47. I'm sure the Great Auks would agree ... if we hadn't slaughtered them all!

Good point, EstimatedProphet.

[Marie26]

20. *snort*

These guys are approaching self-parody, aren't they?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

36. Approaching?

Oh, my; they've crossed waaaay over that line. Hell, they've elevated self-parody to a sort of performance art.

[kineneb]

21. being a fan of penguins

this sounds like a "must see". Got to check the local listings.

happy Linux penquinista (see avatar)

[rox63]

22. I saw it, and enjoyed it quite a bit

The CGI penguins (esp the baby penguins) are adorable, the soundtrack is snappy, and it's got a great environmental message. Go see it, even if you don't have kids.

Edit to add: And it even takes a couple of swipes at the religious right.

[dddem]

53. I saw it with my 11 year old

You forgot to mention the great animation. The scenes where the penguin was swimming through the ice caves were unbelievable.
Like most here, I wasn't expecting this film - I thought it was a cute film for my daughter. I wouldn't reccomend it for really young ones, but I enjoyed it. And when we left, my daughter said she was going to tell her science teacher about it.

[peaches2003]

23. They've lost it totally!

They are so desperate they're making it up as they go. It was a great movie and there were many adults in the theater I saw it in in conservative NC w/out any children. Everyone applauded at the end and most stayed in their seats until the end of the credits. It's a movie for all ages- adults and children will get different things out of it, but it is cute, sweet, scary, delightful, sad, and thoughtful. Does it have a message? Sure. Gay relationships??? Medved et al are crazy and about as deranged as Falwell with his Teletubbie. Global warming??? Medved must not even have seen this movie. The threat to the penguins is human infiltration into their environment depleting their food source (fish). Not a thing I remember about global warming.

See it. It's well worth it and you'll come out tapping your feet. Look for it at award time for sure. It deserves every honor I hope it gets (including spectacular cinematography).

[Minnesota_Lib]

24. Darker even than Bambi's dead mommy?

[Morgana LaFey]

89. There ya go

I couldn't believe it years ago when I took my son to see Bambi that the movie had that in it. I'd certainly not remembered that (and for good reason), but there I was in my 20s, just TRAUMATIZED by that scene. And really annoyed at Disney for having it in there so my son could be traumatized by it. Wholly unnecessary.

[xchrom]

25. you read enough of this hate filled clap trap from these folks and you wanna

go all freeper-like on their ass.

i really need not read certain things any more.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

26. Penguins are clearly gay.

Just look at how nicely they dress!

[Orangepeel]

67. I figured it was the love of musical theater

:rofl:

more gay penguins

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/07/MNG3N4RAV41.DTL

Central Park Zoo's gay penguins ignite debate
Dinitia Smith, New York Times

Saturday, February 7, 2004
(02-07) 04:00 PST New York -- Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": That is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins.

[mom cat]

77. It is more than that! Penquins have a lot of homosexuals:

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp
There is a lot more too! Check out this Google of Homosexual Penguins:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-02,GGLG:en&q=Homosexual+Penguins

The right wing is scared shitless of homosexuality in nature. It shoots their homophobic hatred right out of the water!

I may just have to go see the damned movie.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

104. And they sponsor that commie hippy Linux too!

[0rganism]

27. “endorsement of gay identity”?

I must have missed that scene.

[JackBeck]

28. He just keeps getting more and more crazy.

This hack not a movie critic. He trolls the sewers with the likes of Maggie Gallagher. I have seen both of them filmed at Reversion Therapy conferences. They're from the really wacko fringe of the Reich Wing.

[grateful581]

30. this is unbelievable

get a life republicans.
This attack on "Happy Feet" is pathetic.
:eyes:

[LittleClarkie]

31. The preferred the more wholesome "March of the Pengins", I suppose

There they go attacking animated, made up people. Again. It must be easier than going after reality.

[symbolman]

41. Actually

The March of the Penguins was much MORE hazardous to their mantra.. it shows the poor penguins falling into ravines and crevices that WEREN'T THERE before, and a bunch just froze to death unable to get out..no reproduction for them, YEP, Global Warming right in their faces with that ONE.

Maybe they can bark about the Monkeys flying out of their butts, just like the Wizard of Oz is going on in their collective colons.. the Man behind the ANUS is BUSH :)

The March gave me chills, looked like the end of the penguins to me..

[davepc]

91. Did you see the same movie I did?

I saw March of the Penguins on DVD just the other day, so it's still fresh in my mind, and I don't remember any scene of the birds falling into crevasses caused by global warming.

They've been migrating for millions of years, the size of the ice pack changes from month to month, that's the whole point of their migration.

[symbolman]

99. Maybe it's in some extras on the DVD

but it's certainly there.. I know because I'm writing a book based on global warming and it was part of the mindset when I saw it..

I've spent ten years in Alaska and seen my share of frozen animals and you just don't forget freezerburn when you see it. I've kicked kittens loose from a standing frozen position at 50 below zero, being pissed that they got loose from someone's house, and they clattered across the ice.

I was Horrified as I've seen the migration of caribou from choppers (Spent 18 hours a day looking for uranium by chopper all over Alaska for two summers) and to think that the migration of these magnificent creatures was being destroyed by buckling ice on their route was a knife in my heart.

A subject near and dear to me.. I'm travelling, but I have the DVD with me.. if I find the area where it was I'll post it for you.

[MrSlayer]

32. I took the kids to see this in IMAX.

It was ok as these films go, certainly no Toy Story or Monsters Inc. but was enjoyable nonetheless. I got none of these things out of it and neither did the kids. When I saw that jagoff Beck talking about it I thought he was out of his mind, which of course, he is. These people are fucking ridiculous. There is nothing but a cutesy story about a penguin who cannot sing getting to the bottom of the problems facing his people and solving them by using his talent for dancing. Some cool tunes in there, Stevie Wonder rocks.

[immoderate]

52. I wonder. Stereotype: dancing men = gay?

Note that I have attended many tap dancing workshops because I was looking for a good workout, and some hot women. LOL.

--IMM

[Kelly Rupert]

33. Apparently a movie about accepting differences and protecting nature is "dark."

Maybe we should go watch some gun-porn instead.

[symbolman]

34. It must be because of the Marketing Jingo

which I want to see plastered on every wall in the USA..

"Don't be Afraid. I LOVE YOU."

THAT scares the shit out of them :)

[VOX]

35. What did they expect from the director of the "Mad Max" films???

And if Glenn Beck hates "Happy Feet," that's the final straw -- the wife and I are going to see it this weekend! :rofl:

[submerged99]

38. He's obviously never seen "Grave of the fireflies"

In which a young Japanese boy struggles to keep his 5 year old sister from starving to death after their parents are killed in a world war 2 firebombing. Probably one of the saddest movies I've ever seen in my life, and it was animated.

[FairVotes4all]

44. I saw that after watching Totoro and spirited away

It killed the mood, it was so sad.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

39. "Endorsement of gay identity?" Penguins?? CARTOON penguins??

So now we can add to the pantheon of gay cartoon characters, along with the handbag-toting purple Teletubby and SpongeBob Squarepants, who has been known to hold "hands" with his starfish pal Patrick -- cartoon penguins? Will somebody please explain to me what the fark is wrong with these people?

[Tatiana]

40. The real question is: "Worse than Teletubbies?" n/t

[demgurl]

43. This is a fantastic but sad movie.

I highly recommend everyone going to see it and before I even read the review I described it, to a teacher, as an animated 'Inconvenient Truth'. She said when it comes out on tape/DVD she will get it and show it to her class.

This movie addresses what our trash does to the eco-system, what global warming is doing, as well as over-fishing. I believe the ending in unrealistic but besides that I thought it was terrific. Please go see this, it really is worth it.

[Lisa]

51. little children who don't want animals to go extinct ...

.... grow up into adults who become scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, politicians, civil servants, and community activists who try to stop pollution and habitat destruction. I've met people from all of those groupings, and it's interesting how many of them got into it because they were turned on as kids.

So I guess from that standpoint, this IS a dangerous, subversive movie! Thanks for the review, demgurl -- now I'm excited about going to see it!

[demgurl]

58. You are welcome, Lisa.

I hope a lot of people go to see this. It actually had me in tears. I hate how we are ravaging this planet.

[Nikia]

114. I became an environmentalist and Democrat

After watching the animated version of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax at age 5.

[last_texas_dem]

45. Alright, I'm suddenly a little bit tempted to see this movie

I never realized it had such "dark themes." haha

[Initech]

46. Wow, their stupidity makes my head hurt.

Although I may have to go see this movie now...

[mondo joe]

48. Medved continues to look for relevance, and the Coulter niche market.

Barf.

[Booster]

49. These people sure do get their shorts in a wad when the subject

is something that has absolutely nothing to do with reality, like these penguins, TeleTubbies, Murphy Brown, etc. It's a shame they can't get as riled up about real things. Bunch of losers and idiots.

[Patsy Stone]

50. Satan lives through animated penguins!

This should have been a Weekly World News headline right next to the latest Chupacabra news.

[zbdent]

54. Only thing these guys are good for

is tearing down ... no creativity in their brains at all ...

Just follow orders ...

[InvisibleTouch]

55. "Animated version of An Inconvenient Truth"....

I'm going to have to go out of my way to see it now!

Before this, I just would have waited until it came out on DVD.

[B Calm]

56. This proves right-wingers are all fucking nuts!

[MoonRiver]

57. Must be the same crowd that targeted Tellie Tubbies and Sponge Bob.

Remember those brouhahas? They accused the Tellie Tubbies producers of sending subliminal messages, encouraging kids to become gay, by having one of the Tellies wear purple :eyes:. Sponge Bob's producers were attacked for letting Bob appear in his undies. Oooooo, how horribly suggestive! :eyes:.

Seriously, I am starting to believe these wackos just can't help themselves. They are hopelessly demented. :crazy:

[stevedeshazer]

59. Looks like the 'War On Christmas' isn't catching on this year.

Time for a new 'War On Animated Penguins Who Might Be Gay'.

Good.

This is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard of.

[jillan]

60. I saw it and

I was pleasantly surprised!

Good for them. There is a message there, and I loved it!! Teach the children how corporations screw up the balance of nature.

As usual, the repukes are running from anything that exposes their failures.

How come they didn't get this upset when Pocohantas was the #1 children's film?

[AZBlue]

61. What a sad, pathetic, little little man.

eom

[nam78_two]

63. LOL

:rofl:

K&R for Freeper stupidity....

[Jamastiene]

66. Ah, yes, there might be some gay penguins.

Next thing you know, them there libruls will be telling us the sky is up. :sarcasm:

Let them run their flabby gums some more. If they bitch enough, I may just buy a DVD of it when it comes out. It all depends on how much they hate it. :evilgrin:

[Casablanca]

69. I know that it was really the pro-individual stance of the film that offended them.

But Medved and Beck wouldn't be so PI (politically inexpedient) as to admit that.

[chrisau214]

70. I So Dreaded Having to See 'Happy Feet'

But my son loves penguins and had been waiting anxiously for the movie for quite some time so I knew that at some point I was going to be dragged along to see the dancing penguin movie.

I was more than pleasantly surprised by the content of the movie. There is certainly no gay subtext of any kind to be found in the movie, in fact the primary driving plot point is that the penguins use a 'heartsong' to determine their mates. And as far as I could tell all of the penguin mating occurs between penguins of the opposite sex. Although they are penguins so it's hard to be sure.

The star of the movie, Mumble, is different from the other penguins of his tribe in that he has a singing voice that is so stunningly bad that even his own family is embarrassed by him. But Mumble is also different in another way. While he may not be able to express his emotions through voice he is able to express them through dance. So maybe in some small minds the combination of different and dance equals gay. I guess it is irrelevant to these small minds that Mumbles attempts to use his ability to dance to attract a female penguin.

In fact the heterosexuality of the penguins is layed on very heavily. So heavily that some might find this content to be too much for younger children. I personally think most of the Barry White style stuff will go right over the heads of little ones but some are offended by this sort of thing so fair warning. I found it funny, but maybe that's just me.

But sexuality aside, this movie is dangerous to the ideals of corporatists of all stripes. The dancing penguin theme is neatly used as a cover to get to the real dual points of the movie. The first point of course is that it is okay to be different. The second point is that we humans are destroying habitats. It's not specifically about global warming. In fact I really don't recall any hint of a global warming theme anywhere in the movie. It is specifically about commercial fishing and the fact that the food sources for many forms of wildlife are being decimated.

The movie ends on a postitive note and implies that we humans can through our choices make a difference. It says that if we just look at what we are doing, if we just pay a little bit of attention then the destruction can stop and changes for the better can be made.

This then is the film's dark dangerous message. It tells children that is okay to question authority. It tells children that it is okay to be who you are and that it is okay to care about the people around you. It tells them that it is not only okay to care about the world around them but that it is okay to do something to affect positive change in the well-being and care for the world they live on.

On top of this the movie is often exciting, occasionally frightening, funny, thoughtful, and quite entertaining throughout. Not only that but it has a good beat and you can dance to it.

The non-existent gay penguin sex is just there for the non-existent gay penguin sex fetishists among us.




Chris

[nicknameless]

74. Thanks for posting this.

And the Barry White warning. ;)

[SavageDem]

76. www.gaypenguinsex.com

I honestly haven't checked if this URL exists. But knowing the way the 'Net works, I'm sure it does.

I had written off Happy Feet as just another animated film that I'd eventually half-see courtesy of NetFlix because the kids would demand it. But, as others have said, now I must see it, due to its subversive nature.

QUESTION AUTHORITY! (and all the Republican bastards giving no-bid contracts to Halliburton, CACI, <insert evil corporation here>.

[NoSheep]

87. Nice post-thanks

[Lisa]

100. if kids are interested -- some sites on the Antarctic Treaty and overfishing

I don't know if the filmmakers are doing anything along these lines -- though the people who won the Oscar last year for "March of the Penguins" put in a plug for the Antarctic Treaty during their acceptance speech. They said that the children who saw their movie will be old enough to vote by the time the Treaty comes up for renewal, later this century. (I remember that in 1989, my college roomie -- a zoologist who was really into penguins and polar wildlife in general -- mobilized a lobbying campaign because some provisions of the Treaty were being violated. She had been thinking of a teaching career until then, but ended up shifting focus because of that, and is now a parks planner and warden!)

http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=12368
http://www.scar.org/treaty/



Various DUers have posted about these educational sites on "good" and "bad" seafood -- a teacher friend of mine gives out little cards to her class (which can be downloaded and printed off), so they can help their parents avoid seafood that's farmed or harvested in an unsustainable way.

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp
http://seafood.audubon.org/
http://www.seachoice.org/
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/Sust_fisheries/Sust_seafood/

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

105. But don't you know? "Okay to be different" = TEH GAY AGENDA!!111!11!

It's all part of the sinister Satanic conspiracy! The fact that the depicted "okay" difference is NOT being gay just proves how devilishly stealth they are!!111!!1!

[jonasmkl]

113. Your description is right to the point.

My wife and I are suckers for animation films of the not intellectual challenged type, whether in the original version or a creatively dubbed one, so we had to see 'Happy Feet' right after it came out in Germany last Thursday. The movie really is rather heterosexual, but very much about acceptance of people (or penguins) who are different in some way. Of course to our vigilant culture warriors this could only mean the evil gay agenda, because this is the kind of being different they fear the most.

Although concerning the ecological message the film revolves around the problem of overfishing (a concept straightforward enough to be understood by the untrained minds of small children, penguins or conservatives), there is one passage I read as a barb against the lack of discourse on more complicated ecological problems like global warming. Maybe our right-wing film critics caught this one, too, or maybe they are just wont to conflate all kinds environmental consciousness to make it sound less plausible. In one scene, the protagonist Mumble gets in a heated discussion with his clan elders about the cause of the lack of fish and proclaims it to be better to try and find out what might be actually causing this instead of putting the blame on fate, a divine being or the natural order of things ('the Big Penguin' in emperor-speak).

We can not have children educated to demand factual explanations for things that happen or raised in a faith or philosophy not involving fatalism or the omnipresent wrath of god, now can we? :grr:


Jonas

[upi402]

71. So it must be a great film!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Qanisqineq]

73. Sounds like a good movie to me!

I was gonna see it anyway, I'm a sucker for anything cute. I'm 30+ years old and my husband has to keep me away from the stuffed animals aisle!

I just love cute things :loveya:

[ComerPerro]

75. I posted earlier that I could see how people might see this as left wing

[NotGivingUp]

79. I didn't know Michael Medved is such a jerk. Think I'll drop him a

line to let him know what I think of him.

[mattomjoe]

82. Have you listened to his radio show?

He's a complete asshat.

[NotGivingUp]

95. no, i haven't.....and now i won't! : )

[elehhhhna]

81. I guess Medved never saw "Small Soldiers". He's a tool.

[Roland99]

83. Hell, I was going to avoid it but now I just might go see it *and* take my 12 year-old daughter!

:D

[intheflow]

84. I hadn't wanted to see the movie before.

But now I do. Thanks, Medved & Beck! :hi:

[PVnRT]

85. What a crock of shit

Who is Michael Medved and why do I care?

[grizmaster]

86. guess I'll have to go see it this weekend

with glowing endorsements like that

[YOY]

90. Damn Penguins...ALWAYS CRUISING FOR GAY SEX

There they go now!

Have they no shame?

Quick, someone call Focus on the Family!

[gollygee]

92. Awwww it was SO CUTE

my 4-year-old LOVED it. And I really loved the theme that you can be different and still special and bring something important to a group. :loveya:

My husband didn't like it but he just thought the plot went too all over the place and that there was too much singing. So he had non-political reasons for not liking it.

But from me and my daughter, it was FABULOUS!

[Ganja Ninja]

93. There is something so wrong with these people.

I doubt that few if any of these right morons have even seen this flick but all it takes is for one of the more prominent blowhards to issue a fatwa and they start dog piling. It's as if they have no will or opinion of their own and they simply and faithfully await direction from their masters like a trained dog.

[knitter4democracy]

98. I've hated Medved ever since college when I had to read him.

We had this weird senior class with an odd prof who made us buy and read one of that idiot's books on film. It was crap, and he never backed up his points well at all. I spent that whole unit angry that I'd wasted good money on that trash.

He can't think critically, and yet he's a critic. He can't back up his opinions, he obviously can't really understand what he's watching, and he makes money because he's learned how to say what evangelicals and fundies want to hear.

[Kerrytravelers]

102. Gotta go! Off the see "Happy Feet!"

[Megahurtz]

103. I just think The Music Sucks

by what I've heard in the commercials
(I haven't seen the movie and have no desire to because the music sucks)
but then that's just my taste in music.

[Gelliebeans]

106. Then I will

enjoy this film EVEN more!

K&R

[Critters2]

108. Okay, I give

Where was the gay part? I know gay people, I like gay people...Hell, half my congregation is gay (the fun half)! I have gaydar up the yin yang. I think I'd know a gay penguin if I saw one!!

So, wtf is he referring to?!

:shrug:

[robcon]

112. I thought the movie was great.

The best sound track I've ever heard on a movie.

[Lisa]

115. They forgot: pro-international treaties, and pro-grassroots action!

(spoilers)

Okay, I've seen the movie -- and all I can say is that Medved and Beck should lighten up. I suppose it's possible to label as "propaganda" any film aimed at children, which suggests these kinds of things ... in which case, I can think of dozens of other movies and TV shows that would end up in the same category:

1) Kids shouldn't ostracize classmates who don't excel at a particular skill -- they might turn out to be really great at something else. Likewise, teachers (and the entire educational system) should try to think about developing talents in a range of areas, and not be singleminded about just one thing (in the penguins' case, trying to find a mate).

2) It's good to make friends with people from different cultures, instead of shunning them. By the way, I agree with the earlier poster who mentioned the pro-immigration angle. That seems to be more prominent than homosexuality -- the main characters appear to be heterosexual. Personally I don't consider "dancing" to be a homosexual characteristic, though I suppose in our culture some people might have developed this perspective. I think that the filmmakers were looking beyond that, and having fun with the Calvinist prohibition on dancing (very strict Presbyterians used to forbid it) -- perhaps that's why the elderly leader of the Emperors has a Scottish accent?

3) Overly-dogmatic leaders who single out particular groups based on moral judgements, and make them scapegoats, should be questioned. One of the penguins catches the leader in a logical error, and immediately pounces on it ("if the aliens don't exist, why are you worried about them coming here?").

4) Ordinary people, especially children, can have a tremendous influence on public policy by pressuring their leaders to make laws -- like international environmental treaties. The film shows massive public protests, and policymakers, at national levels and ultimately at the UN, coming to an agreement to save the penguins' food supply ... and by the end, it appears to be successful.

5) Scientists are trying to tell us how to save the environment, and we should listen to their findings. I didn't see much on global warming, unless you count the part where the long-abandoned machine falls out of the ice sheet -- and the characters don't mention climate change at all. Which kind of deep-sixes Beck's assumption that it's "an animated version of An Inconvenient Truth" -- rather, trash, and overfishing by large factory boats, are the main focus. There's actually a lot of scientific evidence to suggest that humans ARE harvesting a large proportion of biomass in the oceans. I suppose that the industrialists will criticize any attempts to create marine protected areas of the type shown at the end of the film, arguing that the fish and crustaceans will otherwise "go to waste", but fishing communities support conservation of stocks because it will guarantee them jobs into the future.


p.s. note to parents -- there are a couple of potentially-scary scenes involving predators (skuas, leopard seals, and killer whales) which very young kids might find disturbing. So if your child might not like seeing a large seal jumping out of the screen -- might be best to wait until s/he is a bit older. (I'm going to suggest this to my co-worker, whose daughter is 3, and was freaked out by seeing the sharks "with the big teeth", and the fish-purloining diver in "Finding Nemo" on DVD last year.)