There are few things better than New York City in the fall—leaves changing color, the humidity melting away, the impending days off from work for the holidays—and to add to the list of joys, there are the parties. Not the types of shindigs where people play beer pong and fall all over themselves (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but the best kind of all: movie parties.
Tonight I was lucky enough to attend a party for the upcoming animated movie Happy Feet, courtesy of Warner Bros. When I first walked into the building, Matt Dillon was walking next to me, looking kind of grouchy. Then again, I’d probably be in a bad mood too if I had an ex-girlfriend who was shacking up with Justin Timberlake. But I digress.
The party was loaded with the goods: snacks, movie memorabilia, and did I mention snacks? Everywhere you looked in the room, there were waist-expanding treats calling your name, whether they were perfectly frosted cupcakes, sno-cones, buttered popcorn, or fresh-baked cookies. Not wanting to offend any of the caterers, I helped myself to several portions of each.
There was also a live penguin named Checkers, who you could pose next to for a photograph. The poor guy looked like he was attempting to waddle away from the hordes of kids trying to get closer, but he was a good sport about it. I thought it might be a tad inappropriate to cut in line before over-anxious eight-year-olds, so I passed on the Kodak moment.
Then, of course, there was the 20 minutes of footage from the film. Happy Feet, directed by George Miller, is a kids’ movie about an Emperor Penguin in Antarctica named Mumble (Elijah Wood) who can’t sing to save his life and unfortunately, singing is the only way to win over a mate in his community. His love-interest Gloria (Brittany Murphy) is not attracted to his screechy pipes, and his ability to tap-dance doesn’t fare much better. The outsider is cast away from his village and joins a clique of 5 Spanish penguins, aptly called “the Adelie Amigos.” The leader of the flock is Ramon (Robin Williams) and he tries to help rebuild Mumble’s wounded ego in silly ways.
From the scattered variety of clips that I saw, it looks like it will be a fun movie for the young’uns. As for adults, well, that’s another story. Let’s put it this way: if Robin Williams makes you chuckle when he’s in his hyperactive “On” mode, then this is the movie for you. His portrayal of a stereotypical fast-talking, wise-cracking Latino will be hilarious for some, painful for others. But on the plus side, the CGI is pretty incredible, and it has some fun musical numbers (Brittany Murphy can do more than play a convincing psycho—she can belt out a solid tune, too).
On the way out of the party, the press reps were kind enough to give us promo t-shirts featuring big, happy penguins on the front. Who couldn’t use an extra night shirt, right?
Happy Feet will hit theaters this holiday season.
