Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Happy Feet makes me happy.

Happy Feet is an awesome movie. I had the fortune to see it at work, showing on our giant Imax screen. In addition to infectious music and Robin Williams' genius comic timing, the story is very strong. It has several themes, from powerful environmentalism to cultural diversity. I continue to be struck by the ending. There's a very natural ending point 3/4 of the way through. But the movie would be very different. So I keep wondering whether I'd prefer the darker, more angry movie that leaves plot tendrils unresolved, or the movie as it is, with everything wrapped up and delivered in a tidy, unmessy happy package.

Movies don't have to have happy endings. You can arrive at the end with everything destroyed, characters transformed into ashes due to their own folly. But tragedy doesn't sell. So movies become like TV.

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