When Memphis (Hugh Jackman) drops the egg of his baby penguin during the long, cold, Antarctic winter, he is afraid that he may have literally dropped the ball. But luckily - for him - the baby does hatch, albeit a bit later than the other penguins, and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) won't be upset when she returns from the feeding grounds.
But when young Mumble (Elijah Wood) can't seem to find his heart song, Memphis blames himself. In this Disney-fied tale (which is actually by Fox), the penguins grow up, and sing their heart song in order to find their mate. Without such a song, Mumble is not only doomed to live out his life on his own, he is just about a disgrace. To make matters worse, he does this thing... with his feet.
All of the other penguins look down on him, but none's gaze is so bad as his father's. All Mumble wants to do is impress upon all of them that he simply can't sing, but he is happy to express his happiness with his feet. And he sure can do that, with some of the prettiest tapping you've ever seen.
So one day after graduation - and after effectively alienating himself even further while embarrassing Gloria (Brittany Murphy), the one penguin who would at least talk to him, he decided to go off on his own, and there he finds Ramon (Robin Williams) and his little band of little penguin misfits.
However, this is good for Mumble, because Ramon and his friends look up to him - figuratively and literally, and that gives him confidence. But a plan to use Ramon's Latino voice to win back Gloria backfires when she sees Ramon hidden behind Mumble, and he banishes himself this time.
The only hope, a wise penguin named Lovelace (also voiced by Robin Williams), suddenly needs help for a plastic six-pack wrapped around his neck that threatens to strangle him, and Mumble and his pals are the only ones who are brave - or stupid - enough to help, so they take off to the land of the aliens (humans) to try and help Lovelace, and in turn, Mumble.
About at this time is where the movie veers badly into something it shouldn't be. It's just really pretty goofy. Lovelace does break free, but Mumble decides to swim after a massive fishing vessel, and he ends up on the shore of a remote beach, and gets put into a zoo. There he sees visions of his friends and family, but he is blinded by the free fish.
Eventually, he starts dancing, and that somehow convinces the captors to take him back home, and there, Mumble convinces all the other penguins to start dancing too, and that in turn convinces everyone to stop fishing, which saves the penguins. It's really a bit much, and while I'm not a huge fan of symbolism, it also says you have to do something really stupid to try and change things, or to get the girl, and only this massive amount of stupidity might change it.
I think for the audience who might like this movie, a more enjoyable ending might have just been the acceptance of Mumble's unique talents of expressing his heart with his feet, and drop the whole alien (human) aspect altogether. I could have completely lived without the "message" (and it would have been much more enjoyable).
Rated PG for some mild peril and rude humor.
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