"Lord of the Rings" hero Frodo, Elijah Wood, provides the voice of the drop-dead cute dancing penguin, Mumble, in Warner Bros.' new animated musical "Happy Feet."
In "Happy Feet's" Antarctica, you're nobody unless you can sing-which is unfortunate for Mumble who is the worst singer in the world. He is born dancing to his own tune... tap dancing. Mumble's mom, Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman), thinks this little habit is cute, but his dad, Memphis (Hugh Jackman), says it "just ain't penguin." Besides, they both know that, without a Heartsong, Mumble may never find true love. As fate would have it, his one friend, Gloria (Brittany Murphy), happens to be the best singer around. Mumble and Gloria have a connection from the moment they hatch, but she struggles with his strange "hippity-hoppity" ways. Mumble sets out across vast landscapes and, after some epic encounters, proves that by being true to yourself, you can make all the difference in the world.
To bring the central character of Mumble to life would require a fleet of technical wizards and a special voice talent. Co-writer Judy Morris offers, "Mumble is earnest and open to new things. We knew whoever voiced him would have to be able to communicate an intelligent innocence, and, at the same time, be hip and cool. We needed an actor with a real, open quality; we found the perfect match in Elijah Wood."
"Mumble's confidence and innate sense of self is extraordinary," says Wood. "He refuses to see his dancing as a problem, and he doesn't want to give up the part of himself that makes him unique. He's saying, 'I have this oddity, but it's not odd to me, it's just odd to you. I'm okay with it, so you're the one who has to come around.'"
Wood is proud to send a strong message of self-acceptance to children and adults alike. "It's really important for everyone to realize that we shouldn't compromise on those things that are individual to us, especially for other people."
While Wood provided Mumble's voice, his unusual Heartsong would come from another talented performer-Tony Award-winning dancer Savion Glover. "I can relate to Mumble a lot," declares Glover. "Because, while I'm true to my own art form, which is tap dancing, I'm not much of a singer. I've tried it; I'll continue to have a go at it, but I'm better at expressing myself through my feet, just like Mumble."
Glover also responded to the character's fish-out-of-water feeling. "At school, Mumble feels like a geek. I'm a geek, too. A tap dance geek."
Opening across the Philippines on Nov. 22, "Happy Feet" is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.