Happy Feet, Sad Mom

With the husband/father person out of town, I decided we deserved a couple of hours off and we set off to the movie theater. Both the kids have been loving the previews for Happy Feet and it looked like something I could enjoy (with the bonus of the Harry Potter trailer in the previews).

It is a very cute movie. I honestly didn't even recognize Hugh Jackman's voice, he did such a good job at being the character "Memphis". Nicole Kidman was back in her Moulin Rouge glory and Robin Williams was...Robin Williams. I think he could have been better (see the Genie in Alladin) but he still added quite a few laughs to the movie. Catchy songs, cute penguins a great initial message: it's ok to be different.

Both kids (6yo and 2yo) were good through it. At one point, J. had happy feet of her own, tip-tapping while the music played. C. just had a happy bum...wiggling because, as he said, "This is loooooooooong."

There came a point where the message wasn't just the quest to find your heart song (whether vocalized or tap-danced) but also about people encroaching on animal habitats. It felt awful to see how we're making an impact, even in Antartica.

There was a point where I thought- how can this end happily? Not only are they teaching us it's ok to be different, but they're lecturing us about our impact on the planet. From that I can see why Steve Irwin was involved (he did the voice for an elephant seal). But it resulted in me leaving the theater filled with guilt. Maybe justified, but not what I expected to feel after a kids movie called Happy Feet.

What might have felt better was to have some solutions included at the end. I waited in vain through the majority of the credits for that- and some sort of dedication to Steve Irwin, but saw nothing. The kids could have distracted me during a crucial second, but overall nothing came of the heavy message.