Happy Feet was such a cute movie!!!!

....but.....


yeah, I said "but".


I should have caught on about 1/3 of the way in when portions of an iceberg fell and with it a long buried "trawler" type machine (man-made, you know).

But then, halfway-ish through the film, "Happy Feet" reveals itself for the true product that, sadly, it is.

If you're not sure about going to see the movie, here's the plot (my view):

---Penguins were born to sing, therefore that's how they find and mate
---Dad dropped the egg during hatching season
---Baby Mumble came out with NO singing ability, but boy did he have happy feet!
---This is called the "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" syndrome. You get the picture. Where does outcast go? Well....(the main plot now weaves into the very good subplot of the underdog making the difference...)
---Penguins need fish.
---There are no fish.
---"Aliens have taken fish".
---Main character goes to the ends of the earth to find the aliens, who are found to be gawking at him at an aquarium.
---He gets a message to the aliens that penguins need fish.
---Aliens fight politically, then the U.N. says "send 'em fish".

So, the moral of our story is, every time you eat fish, there's a Gloria, or Mumble, or another penguin out there near the South Pole starving because it was theirs, and not yours.

I am ALL FOR taking care of our planet and its inhabitants. In fact, (Thank you Rick Warren!), some Christians are really beginning to take it seriously because, well, after all, God said to take care of the place when He sat Adam and Eve down here.

The word dominion can be also be termed "domain": M-W.com tells us...

"1 : complete and absolute ownership of land -- compare EMINENT DOMAIN b : land so owned
2 : a territory over which dominion is exercised


But what we tend to forget is that absolute ownership does not mean the right to do whatever we please at the cost of affecting others. God NEVER gave man any "absolute" power; there's always a reason for it and accountability, too.

So, in that, I am supposed to take care of the earth and its creatures.

So I have no problem with that message in the movie.

But why did the humans have to be called "aliens" and determined to be the "evil ones that were taking the fish"?

Heck, one device, some beeps, and a copter later and you've got five aliens in red parkas sending video of the penguins back to the mainland so the politicking could begin.

They didn't need to go that route. The simple message of taking care of each other and all creatures would have sufficed.

The U.N. symbol was the last straw.

Take the kids? Yes, they'll enjoy it, especially Mumble's feet! The amigos he hangs out with later in the movie are the most hilarious characters by far.

But remember to tell your kid after dropping your popcorn receptacle IN THE TRASH CAN (don't leave it on the floor!!) that he's not evil because he likes going to Red Lobster.