Fun to be had in 'Happy Feet'

A trippy mash-up of March of the Penguins and a hyperactive jukebox musical, the computer-animated Happy Feet - from Babe director George Miller - offers the tale of an outcast Antarctic hatchling who can't carry a tune, but, boy, can he dance.

Set on wild, widescreen polarscapes where the ice shimmers and the penguins shimmy, Happy Feet offers dazzling cinematic family fun, and a mad medley of tunes (songs made famous by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Earth, Wind & Fire, Queen, and Stevie Wonder, among others).

But be forewarned - Happy Feet also suffers from WTL Syndrome, as in Way Too Long. As the pipsqueak penguin hero, Mumble (the voice of Frodo - I mean, Elijah Wood), begins his long journey to discover what's happened to the colony's dwindling fish supply, Happy Feet becomes Snoozy Daze - and the zippy merriment of the film drifts off like a melting ice floe. An ice floe with a clumsy eco-themed allegory piled on top of it.

Plot: Mumble, born of the Elvis-timbered Memphis (Hugh Jackman) and the Marilyn-cooing Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman), is not like other emperor penguins: instead of having a "heart song" to live his life, and find a mate, by, he has the peculiar ability to tap-dance. The penguin elders think it freakish, and even Dad disapproves, but like any kid-movie misfit, Mumble pursues his destiny, against the odds and despite the mockery, and learns how to shine - and step, flap and shuffle off to Brisbane. Master tapper Savion Glover offered up his famously deft moves - and brilliant rhythmic foot flurries - for the animators to model Mumble's dance routines on.

Unfortunately, the movie really does shuffle off to Brisbane, or someplace in Australia. That's where Mumble, borrowing a page from Finding Nemo, ends up in an aquarium exhibit, surrounded by gawking humans.

But enough of the negativity: Happy Feet is, to its credit, mostly a kick. Miller deploys his CG team like Busby Berkeley with a joystick, choreographing stupendous swooping shots of penguin choruses doing contrapuntal - and contra-penguin - wails as they parade around in syncopation on the icy tundras, their slick blue-black coats glistening in the antipodal sun.

Comic relief is supplied by a quintet of wee, Mexican-accented penguins (or are they puffins?). One, Ramon, is voiced by Robin Williams. Weird Close Encounters of the Third Kind moments of awe are also supplied, as Mumble and his companions come face-to-face with strange alien beings (humans). And speaking of Spielberg movies, there's even a few minutes of Jaws-ian scares as our plucky protagonist gets tossed like a gray-feathered volleyball by a couple of killer whales.

Happy Feet, then, is a little bit of a mess. But when it's in its groove, and thousands of penguins are rocking out to "Boogie Wonderland" and "Tell Me Something Good," the thing's a real kick.

Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/stevenrea.

Happy Feet *** (out of four stars)

Produced by Doug Mitchell, George Miller and Bill Miller, directed by George Miller, written by George Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris and Warren Coleman, music by John Powell, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Running time: 1 hour, 48 mins.

Mumble. . . Voice of Elijah Wood

Gloria. . . Voice of Brittany Murphy

Memphis. . . Voice of Hugh Jackman

Norma Jean. . . Voice of Nicole Kidman

Lovelace/Ramon. . . Voice of Robin Williams

Parent's guide: PG (plucky penguins in jeopardy)

Playing at: area theaters