Every Emperor Penguin has a song. A sweet, soulful melody that will win the heart of their opposite insuring matrimonial bliss and a constant refrain guaranteeing help, support and love no matter what obstacles the harsh Antarctic confines throws their species’ way. Every Emperor Penguin has a song.

Every single penguin save one. Poor Mumble (Elijah Wood) can’t carry a tune to save his life, and much to the dismay of his extremely melodious parents Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) and Memphis (Hugh Jackman) the school of common knowledge says this little bird is headed straight towards a life of eternal bachelorhood.

Not so fast. Mumble may not be able to sing but he sure can dance, his strange hippity-hoppity antics a toe-tapping foot-stomping good time sure to intoxicate anyone with half an ounce of courage ready to give his rhythmic motions a try. Noah the Elder (Hugo Weaving) hates this brazen strangeness, while fellow youngster (and knockout singer) Gloria (Brittany Murphy) finds herself thinking her childhood playmate’s actions are actually kind of cute. The rest of the Emperor pack just shakes their heads in collective disbelief.

What none of them knows is that Mumble’s dance moves could be more fortuitous than they could possibly imagine. Not only do his Savion Glover-inspired motions lead him to an unexpected friendship with pygmy penguins the Adelie Amigos (led by an irrepressible Robin Williams), they also send him on a journey far beyond the Arctic currents and into the heart of an alien civilization. Soon, the Emperor Penguin nobody understands comes to realize his bizarre talents will not only help him find his heart’s desire, they might just be enough to save his fellow feathered brethren from extinction, too.

Looking at “Happy Feet,” I never would have thought it was going to have more on its mind than just telling a silly unorthodox love story about cute penguins singing and dancing their way through a snowy wilderness. Never mind director and co-writer George Miller was the creative force behind masterworks as decidedly different as “Mad Max,” “The Witches of Eastwick” and “Lorenzo’s Oil.” This PG-rated entertainment was going to be worthwhile family fare at best, another tired entry in the animated talking animal pantheon sure to please young children while leaving their parents looking for something – anything – other to do than watch it with them at worst.

So imagine my surprise then that Miller’s latest proves to be nearly as miraculous as the filmmaker’s talking pig double-bill, former Best Picture nominee “Babe” and it’s superior sequel “Babe: Pig in the City.” This is a smart, visually resplendent, fabulously entertaining and unexpectedly moving marvel, a furiously paced eco-minded adventure sounding just as loud a warning bell as Al Gore’s global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” did earlier this summer.

While that’s probably a bit simple an analogy, the unmistakable fact is that this movie is a joy, an stupendously invigorating journey daring to look at the world through fresh eyes and give a voice to those unable to make their songs heard. Sure it all ends up amounting to little more than a fairy tale, but what a wondrously miraculous fairy tale it turns out to be! Adults and children will leave the theater excited and effervescent, each wanting to talk about ideas and topics and situations they probably never dreamed in a million years they’d actually be discussing.

Okay, so it does tend to get a bit silly as it goes a long, and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least give Miller a partial slap on the wrist for laying on the sap a bit too thick during the otherwise daring and marvelous third act revelations. The director probably realizes some of his points are probably a bit more didactic than he’d otherwise have intended in more adult entertainment. But that’s okay, for it is readily apparent Miller wants his movie to speak to audiences of all ages with equal passion, the singing, dancing and brightly animated CGI visuals icing hiding a delicious cake filled with poignancy.

By the time it was all done I was ready to have the projectionist rewind the film and let me watch it all over again. I loved this picture, enjoyed it so much I found myself humming amusingly with a wry smile plastered across my face hours after it had ended. I may not dance all that well or sing with quite the same tenor or tone as I did as a child but that doesn’t mean I can’t shake my groove thing or warble away in the shower when the mood hits me. Watching “Happy Feet,” I imagine said mood for an audience won’t just be a possibility, it will probably be a eye-opening necessity. 

Film Rating: êêê1/2  (out of 4)