Rating:
Genre:
Soundtrack
Release Date: 10/31/2006
The
soundtrack to
Happy Feet, the animated penguin fantasia
musical directed by
George Miller -- the man behind such acclaimed films as
Babe,
Babe: Pig in the City, and
Mad Max -- is a loose and lively mix of '70s
funk and modern club-oriented
R&B. Borrowing from the template popularized by
Shrek, the
soundtrack features both new cuts and old songs, with some tracks covered by actors in the film. To this end, listeners get
Brittany Murphy singing both
Queen's
"Somebody to Love" and the
disco classic
"Boogie Wonderland" as well as
Pink reworking
Stevie Wonder's
"Tell Me Something Good" with pleasing results. Interestingly,
Happy Feet also includes some attempts at the über-hip DJ trend of mashups -- two songs played at the same time -- with
Nicole Kidman and
Hugh Jackman doing
Prince's
"Kiss" and
Elvis'
"Heartbreak Hotel" and
Jason Mraz and
Chrissie Hynde on
Steve Miller's
"The Joker" and
David Gates'
"Everything I Own." While these are technically more like two-song medleys than actual mashups and are somewhat awkward musically, they are nonetheless unexpected shots of cultural Zeitgeist and a welcome break from the standard
soundtrack cover tunes. Throw in an original track from
Prince as well as the
big-band swing-meets-
glam rock-meets-
contemporary R&B of
Gia Farrell's
"Hit Me Up," and
Happy Feet delivers no less than a computer-animated
Moulin Rouge.
~Matt Collar, All Music Guide
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