Alternative Character Interpretation: Some viewers feel Hubie isn't the perfect Nice Guy he's constantly shilled as, since he laughs at Rocko's dream of flying, lies to Rocko that he has a friend named Waldo who can teach him how to fly in order to get Rocko to risk his life leading him back to Antarctica rather than continue to enjoy a tropical paradise (which Rocko calls him out on), and his feelings for Marina (while leagues better than Drake's) are no less shallow and looks-based than Drake's are. He falls in Love at First Sight with Marina due to her pretty face, the only reason he or the narrator give for why he likes her is that she's "the most beautiful girl in the rookery," and when they do interact he never once asks her questions about herself despite her wanting to get to know him.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Adélie penguins actually do use pebbles in their courtship rituals. The pebbles themselves are typically used as nest material.
Anticlimax Boss: For all his size and strength, Drake is taken down surprisingly easily by Hubie, who is at best a novice who only received a few days worth of training from Rocko, whereas Drake is three times his size. Even more startling is how Drake brings about his own demise in his final battle with Hubie, without them needing to throw another punch.
Rocko spontaneously gaining the ability to fly when he dives in to save Hubie and Marina. Even more egregious is that he seems to be levitating when this happens.
To a lesser extent, Drake casually revealing that Marina is required by penguin law to choose a mate by the next full moon or she'll be banished, which was never even hinted by the other penguins before that point, seems like it was made up on the spot to create a Race Against the Clock for Hubie to get home.
Awesome Art: In a film brought down by animation that lacks the polish of Don Bluth's better works, some shots in the film are quite appealing to the eye.
Marina's reprise of "Sometimes I Wonder" is a surprising improvement over the first performance sung by Hubie.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: "Good Ship Misery", in some scenes, comes off as over-the-top and trippy enough to be this.
This even extends to one of the characters' wardrobes as well; King is inexplicably seen wearing a Hawaiian shirt and watch during the majority of the song (starting with the line There's never sun), only for it to disappear after the song ends.
Critical Dissonance: Despite receiving bad reviews from critics and flopping in theaters, it sold very well on VHS. Even today, there are a lot of positive reviews for the film on shopping sites such as Amazon and Ebay.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Even people who dislike the movie tend to like Rocko, for being an enjoyable Knight in Sour Armor. Many find him a much more interesting character than Hubie, since he actually has a unique personality and there are hints that he had a rough life.
Evil Is Cool: Drake; being played by Tim Curry tends to help him a lot.
Fetish Retardant: If the female penguins are supposed to look attractive with their Hartman Hips and Impossible Hourglass Figure, the fact that they are penguins would turn anyone off, even some furries. Special mention goes to Marina, for her choker necklace that looks too tight, to the point where it actually seems to choke her.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In light of the comparatively stronger success of Happy Feet approximately eleven years onward, the entire plot of the movie could be considered this, as the two films bear many similarities in terms of their plots and themes.
Ho Yay Shipping: Hubie and Rocko. Plenty of viewers can attest to seeing it. Particularly during their Friend Song, which is more or less a Tsundere anthem.
There's scenes where it's Played for Laughs, such as Rocko waking up with his arms around Hubie, and not realizing it until Hubie's already wide awake, or times when you swear it was done on purpose, like later in that same scene where Hubie says, "It's beautiful!" and Rocko (who is looking down at Hubie for a moment) stutters and says yes, too, before seeing that Hubie was talking about an iceberg.
Moral Event Horizon: Drake makes no attempts to hide the fact he'll beat Marina if she doesn't do as he says. He also outright threatens her with death if she refuses to mate with him during Don't Make Me Laugh, saying she'll "be a shark's dinner" and that he'll write her epitaph if she refuses. This is flat out rape through threats to her well-being. Similar to Gaston, Drake at first seemed like just a Jerk Jock but then shows he's much more evil than that.
Thanks to Hubie's voice and odd design, it's pretty difficult to take anything he does seriously.
The scene of the bachelor penguins going to collect their pebbles is supposed to feel grand and epic, judging by the choir, but the goofy designs of the penguins prevent it from succeeding.
The penguins as a whole are quite laughable all throughout, almost all of them sporting some sort of bizarre human attire on top of their comedic and unusual facial expressions.
Rocko's dreams of flight aren't necessarily this by themselves, but the means by which he magically achieves it is sure to leave viewers baffled.
Hubie and Marina's offspring donning Santa hats at the close of the film, even though there is no mention of Christmas anywhere in the film.
The entire story Hubie cooks up about the flying penguin Waldo; not only does he make this up on the fly after having just mocked Rocko's aspirations to fly, but it does little to motivate the plot and is gradually forgotten about.
The bizarre kazoo-like noise Hubie makes when being strangled by Rocko for lying about the aforementioned penguin, which is enough to send Rocko into hysterics and thus forgive Hubie.
Drake having a Skeletor-like fortress, as if his Obviously Evil design wasn’t enough to tell you he’s the villain.
Questionable Casting: A lot of viewers really weren't taken in by Martin Short's performance as Hubie.
Special Effect Failure: A consequence of having a rushed production, the film is loaded with animation errors. For one thing, there are a lot of scenes where the background characters don't move properly or just straight up don't move at all, which can really take you out of the experience. A good example would be during "Good Ship Misery", where there are several long seconds when the three main singers and Hubie completely freeze up while the background singers do move. Also, a sharp eye will catch one frame where Marina's head is missing.
Despite its epic introduction via a meteor, and it being in the very title of the film, Hubie's magic space pebble turns out to not be as significant as it's built up to be. While Hubie does use it to view Marina a couple times, it's a simple MacGuffin for the rest of the film, and any old regular rock would work just as well. After all, in Marina's own words, "It's not the pebble, it's the penguin."
At one point, Hubie asks Rocko if his girl ran off with another penguin, to which Rocko replies "No! She did not!" without denying he ever had a girl in the first place. The idea of Rocko having a previous girlfriend who he lost would've been a fascinating subplot, but as is, this is just a throwaway line.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: Tim Curry and Jim Belushi clearly were having fun with their roles, and end up giving the two best performances in the film.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The penguins' teeth and hands make them look too humanlike for many viewers. Not helping matters is that Hubie and Rocko's beaks are drawn in a way to resemble a human nose and lips, which makes them look more like clowns than penguins.
is a pretty good musical number in a movie with otherwise lackluster songs. The end credits version by Barry Manilow and Sheena Easton