Unlike the movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" where the subject of the movie is handicapped and is only thought well of at the end of the movie by the woman he saves-this movie starts with a penguin who is born in a most "uncomfortable manner" after having been "dropped" accidentally by his dad during incubation. Whether his first contact with "life" via his feet is on purpose or accidental, his life nevertheless is based on both his frustrations with penguin communal life and nonacceptance by both family and "lover."

This movie informs the audience that from birth, the penguin commune has a pecking order and a rule that all penguins sing. OUR hero can dance a jig like no one else but he is a square peg in a round hole here. Where a savant in human culture is looked on with a combination of envy and pity [depending on whose is doing the looking], in this Emperor colony, this newborn's skill is considered worse than a vulgar Tourette's Syndrome victim in a Quaker colony.

While I do agree that fathers must be in charge of their respective family, he should never do so if his son becomes an involuntary victim of said culture's rules [where being still and graceful dancing are the only kinds of leg movement permitted other than walking.]

Since schools in both animal kingdoms and in people's centers have their rules of learning, even our distinguished teacher of song cannot seem to help this student and he is basically shunned within and from the group.

Inevitably, since, thank goodness, the penguin culture does not "stone" the unacceptable, the young penguin does grow up, and he learns the ways of the penguins well though he cannot "cure" his jigging and jagging as it is a part of him as blue eyes are part of a person's makeup.

Our maturing young man captures the interest of a child hood girl penguin and they get along well until it is her turn to "lead the gang" with one of her songs and as all the other penguins of youth are "caught up" in her rhythm, he again tries to belt out a penguin tune but try as he will, only screechy honks come from his throat and he is banished to a remote ice flow in order not to be heard of easily seen.

That relationship stuff is handled very well by the director as are the actions sequences of our growing penguin evading seals and killer whales each time he finds himself in the ocean.

Upon one escape from a seal's attacks, our hero winds up on a "shorter sized" colony of penguins which introduces us to Robin William's character [he actually plays the voice of two of these arctic Bedouins. Our hero finds himself among much shorter penguins and when he listens to them sing their songs, he automatically goes into a jig dance. However, this time, instead of being chastised, his new "amigos" warmly welcome him as they are playful and of course, are "different" from the Emperor Penguin society themselves.

In time, the short sized penguins introduce our hero to Lovelace, the leader who also happens to have declared that "aliens" who live "out there" have crowned him with his necklace- the top plastic to a six pack of soda.

As our hero easily and quickly acclimates to this shorter in size society, he nevertheless learns that this group might have more knowledge of the aliens who are responsible for the disappearance of the fish that all penguins must have to survive.

With an on and off again relationship with his girl friend, our hero has decided that his task in life must be to -whether accepted as a jiggy dancer or not-find out who is taking the fish that they must have to survive and see if he can negotiate something.

This courageous young man gets his buddies to go with him and he treks out to find the aliens. After a fairly arduous journey, the group sees the alien camp and off to its side, aliens taking huge nets of fish from the waters.

While barely evading killer whales [who accidentally free the "ringed" penguin leader from his ring], our hero decides that regardless of the further dangers, he must follow the aliens to their home and do anything possible to negotiate an ending of their fishing in his colonies' fishing areas.

The movie continues by showing him "dead?" on a beach. He is retrieved by the aliens and placed in a "penguin heaven?" As he comes out of his stupor, he believes he sees his family. While he is being fed, he tries in vain to bring his family fish. No matter how hard he tries, the windows stops him every time.

The directors have piqued my interest even further by doing a rare thing; they bring non-animated humans into the picture [hello Mary Poppins!].

Our young penguin immediately yells out "please help me" [or words to that affect] and with no one responding to him, he wonders "why don't they understand Penguin [language?]"

Downtrodden, he stands at the edge of the "contained" ice flow feeling very sad. A young girl spots him and taps on the barrier window - hopping to awake this dejected penguin. After her third tapping, our hero turns to watch her and, realizing that his very language will not make sense to her, he reverts to his preferred form of communicating-jiggy dancing.

The girl is ecstatic and races off to get her mother. Moments later, girl and mother are a receptive audience for this most unusual aquatic animal's behavior!

In no time at all, the entire alien group is waving and taking pictures as our hero goes from one end of the floe to the other, jigging and jagging.

IF any movie has any points of "movie interruptus"it is the next 30 seconds to a minute when the director brings us out of the penguin world and we see or hear brief snippets of aliens inquiring about restricting fishing in the arctic where these penguins restrict their lives too.

Quickly, our hero finds his lost love and along with her, a dude. Inquiring about the many offspring, it appears that the girl friend has replaced our hero and found a new mate. Thankfully, it is not so, as this adult pair are just teachers of song and dance!

Next, we see the Emperor colony again bumbling along and shortly, our hero re-appears with a radar antenna on his back. The leader of the colony not only chastises him but prepares to banish him from the colony for risking the lives of the others as it is now realized that the aliens might well not only return to the ice in general but to this colony specifically.

A very challenge is engaging between the hero and the leader as either the leader has seen the aliens before or he has not; the leader can't have it both ways.

Thereafter, with humongous motion and noise, a large red helicopter flies in overhead and lands on an ice mountain across the valley from where all the penguins are.

Four aliens emerge from the chopper and look over the valley of penguins. Not quite knowing what to do, our hero begins his jiggy and jaggy and this time, with suggestions from the hero, so do, slowly but surely, the entire colony including the colony "king."

Thus ends one of the sweetest, swellest and nicest animated films every made!

[In all honesty, the previews did not have me sold and I was indifferent about seeing this movie!]