History YMMV / HappyFeet

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: It's a cute pop tune filled movie... full of psychological drama and religious undertones.

* OneSceneWonder: Both seals - the terrifying leopard seal chase and the elephant seals on the beach (one of whom is voiced by [[Series/CrocodileHunter Steve Irwin!]])

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Gloria is perfectly willing to defy her own society to join Mumble and his friends on their journey. Rather than allow this to happen so that she can display more of her character, Mumble stupidly decides to BreakHerHeartToSaveHer, causing her to leave and maintaining her position as little more than a SatelliteLoveInterest.

* WTHCastingAgency: Guess who's doing those impressions of Creator/MarilynMonroe and Music/ElvisPresley! Creator/NicoleKidman and Creator/HughJackman, that's who!

** A fair amount of people have noted the scene in which Mumble watches the excavator sink into the depths of the ocean as evoking a sense of dread and thalassophobia, particularly the wide shot in which we see just how tiny the huge machine is in comparison.

* HypeBacklash: Coming out in between ''Film/MarchOfThePenguins'' and ''WesternAnimation/SurfsUp'' didn't do this movie's reputation many favors (of course, [[CriticalDissonance box office numbers]] don't lie), nor did its Academy Award win for "Best Animated Feature" at the 2007 Oscars (though to be fair, the other two choices were ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/MonsterHouse'', making it more [[DamnedByFaintPraise an award for "least disliked"]]).

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: It's a cute pop tune filled movie... full of [[SurpriseCreepy psychological drama and religious undertones]].

* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The UsefulNotes/GameboyAdvance version of ''HappyFeet'' the video game is a flawed but surprisingly competent platformer but the other versions?[[TheProblemWithLicensedGames Not so much.]]

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Don't expect much going into the Console versions and DS version of Happy Feet the video game. It is essentially a weak ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' clone with bland fishing and sliding levels spliced in between.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: A dark and mature story under the guise of a happy little children’s film with cute and funny singing and dancing animals? The better question would be how or why this ISN’T a Disney film?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The story could have devoted attention to playing with alien tropes, including the concept of Mumble actually encountering real aliens while also interpreting the humans as such. It also could have ended with Mumble seeking out a new colony to share his story after his home colony ostracized him in order to help penguins gradually learn about the outside world. Instead, Mumble never meets aliens, the humans [[AssPull miraculously help him find his original colony despite not having any means of direct communication]] and penguins instantly accept him back.

* UncannyValley: During some of the more obvious motion capture sequences, as you may have noticed that human anatomy and penguin anatomy is wildly different. Plus there's something unsettling about seeing Elijah Wood's eyes looking out of an otherwise realistic penguin face.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Lovelace, played by Robin Williams, is slowly being choked by a soda six pack ring. In 2014, Robin Williams commited suicide by hanging.

* TheWoobie: ''Mumble!'' He's constantly treated like garbage by everyone in his community except for his mother and Gloria for his "freakiness" (aka: dancing instead of singing), his music teacher calls him "hardly a penguin at all", he's kicked out of his society when he tries to win over Gloria by dancing and then he gets washed ashore and trapped in a zoo, where he nearly goes insane.

* WTHCastingAgency: Guess who's doing those impressions of Creator/MarilynMonroe and Music/ElvisPresley! [[Film/MoulinRouge Satine]] and [[Film/XMenFilmSeries Wolverine]], that's who!