Welcome to Mr. Charlie #99, in which we take a look at an upcoming entry in TOKYOPOP's Jr. Cine-Manga line:

HAPPY FEET
TOKYOPOP
ISBN: 1598169971; soft cover; All-Ages
32 pp., Color, $3.99

First the particulars:  Happy Feet is a new computer-animated/live action film from Warner Bros., and has a scheduled release date of November 17, 2006.  Set in Antarctica, in the land of the Emperor penguins, the narrative centers on Mumble, born into the world of the penguins, but different from others.  The Emperor penguins sing and it's by way of their "Heartsong," that the penguins attract a mate.  Early on at Penguin Elementary, Mumble learns that he cannot sing… but he can sure dance.

Because he can't sing (despite the best efforts to teach him), Mumble isn't allowed to graduate elementary school.  He leaves the Emperor colony and learns to fit in with another group of penguins, the Adelie penguins, who like Mumble, love to dance.  From here, it's one adventure after another with Mumble even trying to save all the penguins from starvation.

If this Emperor penguin scenario seems familiar, it's because of Happy Feet's similarities to March of the Penguins.  Warner Independent Pictures, the arthouse wing of Warner Bros. Pictures, released the English-language version of March of the Penguins, a French documentary about Emperor penguins, in 2005.  From what I gather by reading TOKYOPOP's "Jr. Cine-Manga" version of Happy Feet, the film will be a family-friendly, but fictional tale set in the land of the Emperor penguins.

Happy Feet stars the voice performances of Savion Glover, Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, and Hugh Jackman.  It's directed by George Miller, who has previously worked on an animal fable that was told via the computer animation/live action mix, Babe and Babe: Pig in the City.  Others know Miller for his Mad Max trilogy starring a young Mel Gibson.

What is Cine-Manga?  It's a photo comic - what Marvel used to call "fumetti."  The panels on each page of the comic book aren't drawn.  They're photographs with the word balloons and captions placed over them.  TOKYOPOP has had a line of photo comic books for the past few years - what they called Cine-Manga.  Jr. Cine-Manga are less like Manga volumes and more like small children's books (Happy Feet measures about 6" x 9").  Basically, Happy Feet Jr. Cine-Manga is a photo comic book adaptation of the movie.  This is for readers younger than 9.

I doubt the adult reader will find much of interest here, unless he has a child.  However, Happy Feet is an engaging adventure, and this "Jr. Cine-Manga" certainly made me interested in seeing the movie, though I'd planned on avoiding it completely.  So I recommend this to people wanting interest children to comics or Manga.

You can learn more about the publisher through its website, TOKYOPOP.com.  Thanks to the Barnes and Nobles website, bn.com, for providing the images.

You can read my movie reviews at http://www.negromancer.com.