40 Fun Facts About Happy Feet

What style of dancing comes naturally to Mumble, the penguin who cannot sing, in Happy Feet?

Tap is the one thing Mumble does better than anyone, yet the colony's elders treat his footwork as a disgrace and later banish him for it.

Mumble's colony in Happy Feet belongs to which species of penguin?

Emperor penguins are the only species that breeds through the Antarctic winter, which is why the film opens with the males huddled over the eggs while the females are away at sea.

Which star of Peter Jackson's Tolkien film trilogy voices the adult Mumble in Happy Feet?

Elijah Wood, best known as Frodo Baggins, came back to voice Mumble in the 2011 sequel and in the tie-in video game.

Which comedian voices both Ramón and Lovelace, and also narrates the story, in Happy Feet?

Robin Williams returned to both roles for Happy Feet Two, which turned out to be his last animated feature before his death in 2014.

What piece of human litter does Lovelace wear around his neck as a sacred talisman in Happy Feet?

Six-pack rings snagged on Lovelace while he swam off the forbidden shores, though he tells his followers that mystic beings bestowed them on him.

What name do the penguins of Happy Feet give to humans, whom most of them have never seen?

Aliens is the colony's word for people, and nobody believes Mumble's account of them until a research team walks up to the penguins at the end of the film.

Mumble's father Memphis in Happy Feet is modelled on which rock and roll singer?

Elvis Presley made his home in Memphis, the city that gives the character his name, and Memphis sings one of the singer's early hits, Heartbreak Hotel, on the soundtrack.

What does Mumble discover is really causing the food shortage in his colony in Happy Feet?

Fishing boats are hauling the catch away, and footage of the dancing colony later sets off a worldwide debate that ends in a ban on Antarctic overfishing.

Brad Pitt and Matt Damon voice Will and Bill, which tiny sea creatures, in Happy Feet Two?

Krill sit near the bottom of the Antarctic food chain, and once Will works that out he sets about moving up it, with Bill reluctantly tagging along.

Which pop star took over as the voice of Gloria, Mumble's mate, in Happy Feet Two?

Pink had already sung on the first film's soundtrack, and in the sequel she leads the opening medley as Gloria.

Which Australian filmmaker, creator of the Mad Max series, directed Happy Feet?

George Miller traced the idea to a Mad Max shoot, where a cameraman who had filmed a documentary in Antarctica told him he should make a film set there.

Which Clueless actress provided both the speaking and singing voice of Gloria in the first Happy Feet?

Brittany Murphy asked the director to let her sing the part herself, and her covers of two 1970s hits went onto the soundtrack album.

Which Australian actor voices Memphis, Mumble's father, in Happy Feet?

Hugh Jackman sings in the role as well as speaking it, and he came back for a brief cameo as Memphis in Happy Feet Two.

Which Oscar-winning Australian actress voices Norma Jean, Mumble's mother, in Happy Feet?

Nicole Kidman sings the part too, and Happy Feet became the highest-grossing film of her career up to that point.

Norma Jean, Mumble's mother in Happy Feet, takes her name and manner from which Hollywood star?

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson, and the film gives her birth name to the penguin who raises its hero.

Which television wildlife presenter, to whom Happy Feet is dedicated, voices Trev in the film?

Steve Irwin died two months before the film came out; he had also recorded an albatross for a scene that was later finished for the DVD in his memory.

What do the humans attach to Mumble's back before releasing him into the wild in Happy Feet?

A tracking device lets a research team follow Mumble all the way home, where they film the whole colony dancing.

Which predatory seabirds corner the young Mumble before he escapes into a crevice in Happy Feet?

Skuas prey on penguin chicks, and the leader of this gang, voiced by Anthony LaPaglia, wears a yellow tag on one leg.

What are Ramón and the four other Adélie penguins who befriend Mumble called in Happy Feet?

The Amigos are Ramón, Nestor, Lombardo, Rinaldo and Raul, and they are the first penguins to embrace Mumble's dance moves instead of mocking them.

Which Frank Sinatra standard does Ramón sing in Spanish while Mumble mimes to it in Happy Feet?

My Way is listed on the soundtrack with the Spanish subtitle A Mi Manera, but the lip-sync trick fails to win Gloria over.

Which musician wrote an original song for Happy Feet within a week of being shown the film privately?

Prince was shown the film so that he would approve the use of one of his hits, enjoyed it, and offered a new song that went on to win a Golden Globe.

Happy Feet beat which Pixar film to the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Cars earned more at the US box office that year, yet the Oscar went to the dancing penguins; Monster House was the only other nominee.

Which James Bond film did Happy Feet beat to number one at the US box office on its opening weekend?

Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's first outing as Bond, opened the same weekend, yet Happy Feet took $41.6 million and stayed on top for three weeks.

Which Broadway dance star performed Mumble's footwork through motion capture for Happy Feet?

Savion Glover also co-choreographed the film, whose other dancers went through a 'Penguin School' to learn how to move like the birds.

In which Australian city did the studio Animal Logic spend four years animating Happy Feet?

Sydney is home to Animal Logic, which worked with IBM to build a server farm powerful enough to render its first animated feature.

Which Queen hit, written by Freddie Mercury, does Gloria sing in Happy Feet?

Somebody to Love was a 1976 single for Queen, and the film's version was recorded by Gloria's own voice actress instead of a stand-in singer.

Which Earth, Wind & Fire hit do the young penguins dance to once Gloria falls for Mumble in Happy Feet?

Boogie Wonderland breaks out after Mumble dances in time with Gloria's singing, and the appalled elders blame his conduct for their lean season.

What is the name of Mumble and Gloria's son, who is reluctant to dance, in Happy Feet Two?

Erik runs away to Adélie-Land with his friends Bo and Atticus, and his singing is supplied by the actress who voiced Mumble as a chick in the first film.

The Mighty Sven, hailed in Happy Feet Two as a penguin who can fly, is really which kind of bird?

A puffin with a Scandinavian accent, Sven admits the truth only when Mumble's son urges him to teach the trapped colony how to fly.

What traps Gloria and most of the colony in a pit at the start of the crisis in Happy Feet Two?

An iceberg walls the penguins in, leaving Mumble and three youngsters on the outside to carry food to them and fetch help.

In Happy Feet, what name is given to the unique tune each penguin sings to attract a mate?

Heartsong is the film's word for it: when a male's matches a female's the two pair off, which leaves the tuneless Mumble with no way to court.

Which voice actor from The Simpsons plays the Mighty Sven, the flying con artist of Happy Feet Two?

Hank Azaria, the voice of Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum, plays Sven as the smooth-talking ruler of Adélie-Land.

Which actress voices Carmen, the uninterested object of Ramón's affection, in Happy Feet Two?

Sofia Vergara joined the sequel while starring in Modern Family, and Carmen ignores Ramón until he jumps down into the pit to be with her.

A real penguin nicknamed Happy Feet made headlines in 2011 after swimming from Antarctica to which country?

New Zealand's Wellington Zoo nursed the bird for ten weeks after it swallowed beach sand, probably mistaking it for snow.

Happy Feet won the first Best Animated Film prize ever handed out by which awards body?

The BAFTAs introduced the category that year, and Happy Feet also took Best Feature Film at the British Academy Children's Awards.

Before Happy Feet, its director co-wrote and produced which live-action film named after its animal hero?

Babe, the talking-pig hit, earned seven Oscar nominations, and he went on to write and direct its sequel himself before turning to penguins.

Which composer wrote the orchestral score of Happy Feet and later scored How to Train Your Dragon?

John Powell earned a Grammy nomination for the score, which was released as its own album, separate from the one collecting the film's pop songs.

Lovelace, whom the Adélie penguins consult in Happy Feet, belongs to which crested penguin species?

Rockhopper is his species, and in the sequel Lovelace returns as the partner of the flying newcomer Sven.

Which animals, led by Bryan the Beach Master, come to the colony's rescue in the finale of Happy Feet Two?

Elephant seals owe Mumble a favour by then, because he had rescued Bryan after the Beach Master fell from an ice bridge and became trapped.

Which predators attack Mumble, Lovelace and their friends at the forbidden shore in Happy Feet?

Two orcas attack the group there; every penguin escapes, and the struggle ends with Lovelace freed from the thing around his neck.