Happy Feet...

[Celeval]

...is a fucked up movie. Seriously.

How does one get away promoting it as a shiny, fluffy, happy Finding-Nemo-esque movie? I don't mind message movies, I don't mind message movies about the environment or about religion; but I'd like to know that's what I'm going to see. If the tagline is "WARNING: May Cause Toe-Tapping.", I'm really not expecting to see an indictment that organized religion is evil. The ecological message was at least somewhat expected, although just a bit sledgehammered. If I was a parent bringing a child, rather than just going with my wife, I'd be seriously upset instead of just feeling like I blew $15 for a movie I wasn't in the mood for.

If you haven't seen the movie, you might think I'm overreacting. I'm not.

[Karlifornia]

Suddenly, I have a burning desire to see this movie.

[Vince]

Originally Posted by Celeval

...is a fucked up movie. Seriously.

How does one get away promoting it as a shiny, fluffy, happy Finding-Nemo-esque movie? I don't mind message movies, I don't mind message movies about the environment or about religion; but I'd like to know that's what I'm going to see. If the tagline is "WARNING: May Cause Toe-Tapping.", I'm really not expecting to see an indictment that organized religion is evil. The ecological message was at least somewhat expected, although just a bit sledgehammered. If I was a parent bringing a child, rather than just going with my wife, I'd be seriously upset instead of just feeling like I blew $15 for a movie I wasn't in the mood for.

If you haven't seen the movie, you might think I'm overreacting. I'm not.

I'm not very religious, so it didn't bother me so much. I was surprised, however, that my girlfriend (who is much more religious than I am, though not crazily so) was more concerned about the political overtones (the use of the U.N.-type logo was what she commented on).

I was completely floored by this as well -- it's not even a thinly veiled bash on organized religion, either.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Vince

I'm not very religious, so it didn't bother me so much. I was surprised, however, that my girlfriend (who is much more religious than I am, though not crazily so) was more concerned about the political overtones (the use of the U.N.-type logo was what she commented on).

I was completely floored by this as well -- it's not even a thinly veiled bash on organized religion, either.

This was almost my exact response when I watched it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with that thought, as the people I went with thought it was a great flick. Maybe I just need more discerning friends.

/tk

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Celeval

...is a fucked up movie. Seriously.

How does one get away promoting it as a shiny, fluffy, happy Finding-Nemo-esque movie? I don't mind message movies, I don't mind message movies about the environment or about religion; but I'd like to know that's what I'm going to see. If the tagline is "WARNING: May Cause Toe-Tapping.", I'm really not expecting to see an indictment that organized religion is evil. The ecological message was at least somewhat expected, although just a bit sledgehammered. If I was a parent bringing a child, rather than just going with my wife, I'd be seriously upset instead of just feeling like I blew $15 for a movie I wasn't in the mood for.

If you haven't seen the movie, you might think I'm overreacting. I'm not.

Solution: Read a review? This isn't my cup of tea (no kids, no real interest in animated movies) but I think I would read about what I was going to see if I had no idea what the movie is about. I checked Rotten Tomatoes and just about every positive or negative review on there points out this isn't just any kid's flick and it has lots of messages it tries to deliver. I hardly feel sorry for you if you thought from a cute picture and tagline that the movie would be that. The movie Happiness wasn't about how happy Phillip Seymour Hoffman is.

[Vince]

I think it also hurt that the previews made it look to be a real happy, funny movie...but it was hardly that at all. 99.9% of the humor was shown in the trailer, and there wasn't much happy about the movie.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by panerd

Solution: Read a review? This isn't my cup of tea (no kids, no real interest in animated movies) but I think I would read about what I was going to see if I had no idea what the movie is about. I checked Rotten Tomatoes and just about every positive or negative review on there points out this isn't just any kid's flick and it has lots of messages it tries to deliver. I hardly feel sorry for you if you thought from a cute picture and tagline that the movie would be that. The movie Happiness wasn't about how happy Phillip Seymour Hoffman is.

Hahah. I went mostly to be social with my friends and to see the first Harry Potter teaser trailer. I had little interest in the movie to begin with and set the bar low, but as I went to see it on opening day, I hadn't bothered to read many reviews.

Alas. It was more disappointing on many levels than I could have expected, but that's ok. I had a good night with my friends.

/tk

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by panerd

Solution: Read a review? This isn't my cup of tea (no kids, no real interest in animated movies) but I think I would read about what I was going to see if I had no idea what the movie is about. I checked Rotten Tomatoes and just about every positive or negative review on there points out this isn't just any kid's flick and it has lots of messages it tries to deliver. I hardly feel sorry for you if you thought from a cute picture and tagline that the movie would be that. The movie Happiness wasn't about how happy Phillip Seymour Hoffman is.

Granted, and typically I'll read a lot of reviews if I'm unsure about a movie; and usually do at rottentomatoes. But this is a movie that's been bombarding us with commercials and trailers for weeks. I think I'd feel safe going to see the new Bond and getting an action film, without reading reviews. It's more that the trailers definately sell the movie as a singing/dancing/cutesy flick when it's really kinda not.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Celeval

It's more that the trailers definately sell the movie as a singing/dancing/cutesy flick when it's really kinda not.

Per my 8 year old, this was the most misleading movie trailer since Snow Dogs.

We, as a family, debated whether to go or not for a good 30 minutes before deciding that it was probably better than nothing even if it wasn't very good.

That said, it's probably the most visually appealing computer animation I've seen to date. The landscapes & such were gorgeous.

[Draft Dodger]

so, several years ago, I was at a party with a bunch of friends and was completely shitfaced. At some point, I passed out in a comfy chair. When I woke up, the first thing I saw when I looked down were the words "Happy Feet" on my feet in blue magic marker.

In reality, it really read "Harry Feet", the result of my dyslexic friend misspelling "Hairy".

[stevew]

I thought the story was about Peyton Manning, so I decided not to go. I figure I already knew the ending, which would be him choking in a big game, and throwing someone else under the bus.

[Passacaglia]

I guess all it took of those commercials with Robin Williams speaking literally gibberish for me not to want to see the movie.

[Joe Canadian]

101 Dalmatians should be banned, it's clearly promoting an anti-old women agenda.

[sachmo71]

Well, I saw it with my kids, and while I was surprised by the messages contained within, it sparked some interesting questions from my kids. It was nice to see a movie made for children that sparked some curiousity rather than just made them clamor for the toy version of said movie...(even though that happened as well )