Music Happy Feet
Digital Life Average Rating:

Rating: - Not What I Thought
I thought the album would be a collection of all the wonderful music in the movie. No offense intended, but it was only the original music composed for the movie and not the wonderful collection of non-original (to the movie) songs.

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Rating: - Wonderful!
John Powell's 'Happy Feet'is nothing less than beautiful! I'm extremely picky about my movie soundtracks, especially when most of the original score is cut out of the cd - which is what usually happens to most animated movie soundtracks. Fortunately, this cd is nearly the complete soundtrack (minus the one's contained on the other cd) and in perfect order. If you loved the movie as much as I did, then you'll be pleased with this cd. It's refreshing to find a soundtrack for an animated film that's pretty much complete; I only wish other animated movie producers could learn from this soundtrack release.
PS - buy both Happy Feet cds and you'll have the entire movie soundtrack!

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Rating: - Better than the "Original Soundtrack," but still a mixed bag
I was so disappointed with the "original soundtrack" that I didn't even bother purchasing it. The songs were either not in the movie or the ones I didn't care about.

The John Powell tracks presented here are closer to the heart of Happy Feet. Lots of thump-thump beats, rhythm and bass.

The tracks that stand out IMO are:
1. Huddle (Sounds like sailors chanting on a Russian ship.)
4. Wives Ho!
11. Adelieland (Sounds like a Brazilian marching band with whistles)
12. Bob's Led (A little bit of tapping - what we didn't get on the original soundtrack!)
14. Lovelace's Pile (A dash of Barry White)
17. The Leader of the Pack (Hispanic penguins singing.)
27. Tap Versus Chant (Tap dancing and bass - arguably one of the best tracks on the CD)
29. Communication (A mixed bag of a little bit of rhythm, beat, and slow drama.)

Unfortunately, most of the other tracks have far too much of that obvious soundtrack drama too them. They don't really stand on their own as separate pieces and will only really be enjoyed by the most hardcore fan.

Despite how many more tracks I like on this version, I can't help but still feel a bit ripped off by the two choices. The "original soundtrack" includes several great songs such as "The Story of Mumble Happyfeet" (also by John Powell) which is easily as rousing if not more so than anything here, "Boogie Wonderland," and "My Way." Instead of selecting the best songs it seems they were more interested in splitting them up and trying to get us to buy two CDs instead of just one.

One question that might come up is which to buy if the listener is a child. Unfortunately, neither CD fits the bill. The "original" has tracks that many find far too risque or are simply far too different than what appeared in the movie. And this John Powell CD has far too many dramatic classical sounding pieces that would put most kids to sleep.

So which to buy? Hard to say. I wish we could take half from one and half from the other. Some might want to consider purchasing their favorite MP3s and leave it at that. Personally, I probably won't be satisfied until the DVD comes out which will obviously include all the tracks I like.

If Amazon hasn't yet offered sample links check out the Rhapsody site where you can hear short snippets of each track.