Tear Jerker / Happy Feet

• Mumble's birth. All the other chicks are happily running around with their fathers, all the eggs have hatched and the new dads are celebrating their new children, but Memphis' egg... is just silent. Maurice's attempts at comfort (telling him how "it happens sometimes"), coupled with Memphis's guilt-ridden and heartbroken expression (due to how he previously dropped him as an egg during incubation) is just... ouch. Not to mention Gloria's innocent questions and Maurice trying to stop her.
• Miss Viola saying that a penguin without a heart song or ability to sing is "hardly a penguin at all" - in front of Mumble.
• Mumble is barely able to escape from the skua flock, but it’s of very small comfort to the young penguin. All he can do is curl up and cry in a fetal position, terrified from his brush with death that came from trying to find solitude to properly express himself. He’s still a very young child, and knows he nearly died and never saw his parents again.
• The way Memphis thinks his son is "messed up". When he reveals Mumble was dropped as an egg, Norma Jean and the other penguins, including Mumble who was right behind him, are horrified. Despite the fact that Mumble acts either stoic or happy mostly all the time, it's easy to tell how much that opinion hurts him by looking at his eyes or body language.
  • It's particularly difficult to watch for a viewer who has/had learning disabilities as a child or an adult. Many children and adults have gone through a long list of doctors, medication, therapists, and special teachers to try and find out what's "wrong" with them. It's heartbreaking to see what's essentially an infant or toddler going through that, especially if the kid doesn't think anything is wrong with them yet are being told so.
• Mumble is cast out from the graduation party on the iceberg because of his terrible singing along to “Somebody to Love”. Even Gloria, who clearly does reciprocate his feelings, can only gently give him a look that is begging him to leave for his own sake. And Gloria’s singing “can anybody find me somebody to love”, as Mumble watches in despair from afar, isn’t just part of the song, nor is it reflecting Mumble’s feelings in the moment - it’s her singing for herself, loving Mumble but fearful they’ll never get to be together.
• Mumble's exile from the colony on the basis the elders blame him for their food shortage. For so long the elders and colony ostracized Mumble due to his inability to sing and instead choosing to dance to express himself; considering it abnormal to their "normal" way of life. (During graduation day, as Mumble went to join his peers in fishing for the first time, the elders even called him a "bad egg" who will bring tragedy on them simply because he's different.) So when their fish suddenly begin disappearing, they decide that Mumble must be to blame as his differences have angered their god "the Great 'Guin" and they're being punished as a result. Norma Jean and Gloria, who are heartbroken and on the verge of tears, can only give ignored protests as Mumble is forced to accept this ruling and leaves.
  • Adding salt to the wound, Memphis refuses to defend Mumble, his own son, because he believes Mumble's quirks began with him dropping him as an egg, that they're "paying the price" as a result, and that him leaving will somehow fix everything.
  • Gloria tries to reach Mumble and begs him not to go, insisting the ruling to be wrong, only to be held back by her parents who order her to stay quiet.
  • When Mumble leaves, Memphis repeats the elders chant of "In the wisdoms, we trust..." to reaffirm his siding with the elders, Norma Jean gives him a betrayed type of expression as she tearfully stares after her son as he leaves. Her heartache as seeing a bigoted ruling forced onto the child she dearly loves resonates with any parent who loves their child, even in a narrow-minded community that looks down on them for being "weird". Then you're forced to see them outright banished from their home out of prejudice.
  • The amigo's beautiful and tragic rendition of "Leader of the Pack" as they follow behind Mumble as he leaves just adds to the heartbreak of the moment even more.
• Even when Gloria runs after him and swears to stay by his side as he goes on his dangerous quest for truth, and his elation that Gloria loves him back, Mumble is too afraid for her safety and insults her to drive her away. It works, and Ramón somberly tells him that it was a very noble thing to do, with Lovelace and the Amigos agreeing.
• This film will definitely strike a chord with people who had to deal with their parents not accepting who they are. When Memphis begs Mumble to give up dancing, the one thing he knows best and loves, in order to fit in with everyone else, Mumble just can't do it.
  Mumble: Don't ask me to change, Pa... 'cause I can't.
  • Later on, Memphis's My God, What Have I Done? moment. It's implied that during the three months Mumble was gone, Memphis came to realize what a poor father he was and has come to regret all but turning his back on his son. And his guilt got to the point where he became depressed, emotionally shut down, and isolated himself from the colony. After Mumble returns home, he asks his mother and the amigos about his father, to which they gravely warn that he isn't well. When they do reunite, Memphis has this to say to his son:
    Memphis: There ain't been one day... not one day... that I done right by you.
• The three months Mumble is forced to spend in the zoo. Especially since, for a minute or two, it honestly looks like the film's actually going to end there.
  Mumble: CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! YOU'RE TAKING OUR F... I... S...! (squawking from the human perspective)
  Lovelace (as narrator): After three days, he would lose his voice. After three months, he would all but lose his mind.
• When Mumble returns to the colony, he sees Gloria near Seymour, who is calling her “baby”, and they are surrounded by a huge swarm of young penguins. He assumes they have married and had children, and tries his best to stay neutral and tell them he’s happy for them. Thankfully, Gloria reveals she and Seymour are simply teachers of a school for hatchlings.

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