New on DVD: Happy Feet

The 'Footloose'-meets-Greenpeace penguin flick is cute, but includes enough innuendo to make parents squirm.

March 30, 2007

When confronted with a tap-dancing baby penguin do you (a) cuddle it and feed it fish or (b) declare it the work of the devil and banish it? Their hearts clearly frozen solid by the minus 70 degree F. temperatures, the emperor penguins in the Oscar-winning "Happy Feet" go with choice (b) when confronted with Mumble, a baby who's just got to dance. The story line is "Footloose" meets Greenpeace, with the second hour sending the grown-up Mumble in search of the "aliens" who have stolen all the fish. The dance sequences are dazzling, but don't let Mumble's cuteness quotient fool you: There's a seal and two orcas that could terrify the under-6 set, and enough innuendo to make parents squirm as if they were sitting on sardines. Extras: Savion Glover offers kids a tap lesson, and a new animated scene stars the late Steve Irwin as an albatross. Grade: B