Tappy Toes (2011 Video) User Reviews

straight horse manure

[bryanbueso · 1/10 · 21 April 2023]

This is one of the most, sickening, horrid ,obscene ,hideous , obnoxious moment of film I have ever had to witness, I have wasted so much valuable time on this movie, when I could've gone outside, maybe try to get a girlfriend, but no I sat down and watch his absolute garbage waste of a movie, You will achieve nothing by watching this movie, absolutely nothing good. I gained more from watching the emoji movie and that was pure torture.

So In conclusion Don't watch this if you have a life worth caring bout, save yourself the embarrassment, go watch something good like, Toy story 2, that's a w.

For a mock buster/knock-off, not as bad as expected while still not being very good

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 25 June 2015]

As far as animated mock busters go, Tappy Toes is one of the least bad. It is far from a good movie, but unlike most other animated mock busters the DVD cover for it was really cool, and again it does attempt to do things differently to its inspiration Happy Feet instead of blatantly ripping it off. How Pingo discovers tap dancing is also in my opinion more believable and makes more sense than with Mumble for Happy Feet, so Tappy Toes deserves some credit in this regard.

The flash animation(not CGI as the DVD cover seemed to imply) is neither terrible or great. Some of the backgrounds are handsome and some of the colours nice, but most of it is rather flat and spare and the character designs(especially that of the main seal antagonist) are rather limited in movement and weirdly proportioned. The music is very often the opposite of toe-tapping, and was in need of more whimsy and less of the loud action soundtrack quality. The tap dancing is sweet and looks decent but not always imaginative. There are some genuinely funny moments here, but not consistently. Much of the dialogue in Tappy Toes is very bad, the dialogue between the villains being especially face-palm worthy(i.e. the 'places to pinch' line, the seal's not-sure-what-to-think facial expression mirrors exactly how the audience will be feeling).

Tappy Toes is short in length at only forty minutes and has some very sweet parts. Not all the pacing works however, some of it is efficient but some of it is draggy and like it was trying to stretch out the story and the running time. Regarding the story, while there are some funny and sweet parts(which is another big improvement over most animated mock busters), there's not a lot to it(most of it actually is very thinly plotted) and a good deal of it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Particularly true to this is the dynamic between the two main villains, not since Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales has there been a weirder and more senseless dynamic/pairing in animation(I'd say it's even more so here), if the movie gave a reason for the pairing and why the mastermind was the crab and not the seals it would have been much easier to swallow.

As for the characters, they fail to engage, with the exception of adorable Pingo. The main seal villain is incredibly annoying with a voice that makes the ears bleed, the crab has no real personality or motivation and is saddled with the worst of the movie's dialogue, the father's constant pessimism didn't come over very realistically and instead rather forced and the rest of the characters are bland. The voice acting is a mix of flat and irritatingly over-eager, nobody apart from the voice work of Pingo which has a cute factor without being shrill sounded like they were happy to do this.

Overall, not particularly good and lacking in a lot of areas, but actually has its moments and is one of the better animated mock busters around(which is saying a lot, as most of them are dreadful). 4/10 Bethany Cox

I agree that it is among the better cash-in copycat movies

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 26 March 2019]

"Tappy Toes" is an American animated short film from 2011, so soon a decade old, and this one was directed by Darrell Van Citters and written by Robert Zappia. From the title, you probably already understand that this film is closely linked to the successful blockbuster Happy Feet and the penguin's dancing is a vital component story-wise, but not that essential I would say. Add to that 2 or 3 other aspects they made use of from the bug famous Oscar-winning film, but overall it is tolerable. I think the voice acting is fine most of the time and taking into account, these are no big name actors here, it is even somewhat respectable. Animation is certainly only television level, but yeah I have seen more than a few animated series in rceent years where the looks are also not brilliant and maybe even worse than here and these have received better reception. I think a whole lot here in terms of the rating really has to do with the circumstances when and how this was made, certainly as a mostly financial decision and not really with the intention of creating a formidable motion picture and I agree that this is never a good approach. Nonetheless, it needs to be said that many others (especially those from Brazil) of these copycat animated films are inferior, clearly inferior to this one we have here. I even laughed on 2 or 3 occasions. Some of the characters were at least mildly interesting like the tiny crab posing as the main antagonist. And the penguins were somewhat likable too, but well what can I say I like penguins. Story-wise, this film feels a bit shoddy, but it is not a failure and also good that tehy kept it essential at way under an hour because I think it would have been way worse with more filler material in it. Overall, maybe they could have done themselves a favor with another title not so similar to Happy Feet, but it's okay. All in all a thumbs-down from me, even if I quite liked the idea of an outtake inclusion at the end, especially the one when the ice cracks and he falls into the water. Also reminded me that outtakes arfe staged pretty frequently I am sure and actually scripted. Now I am drifting away from the core review of this film here, so let me add finally that I give this one a thumbs-down and don't recommend checking it out, but it is also closer to an okay movie that can be seen than to a truly horrible watch I must say.

Lets look past that its a ripoff

[novaklosinski · 8/10 · 23 January 2022]

Even though this is a ripoff it has its qualities like, It looks surprisingly good for a ripoff, It has a different plot from Happy Feet and barely rips it off, and there are funny scenes. So basically this movie isn't so bad.

Above average

[RatingBadMovies · 7/10 · 21 July 2021]

This Happy Feet mockbuster is decent if you ask me, I give this an 8/10 because it has redeeming qualities such as Likable Characters.

Origin: This movie was directed by Darrell Van Citters. An American Director, Animator & Author who also directed "Chop-Kick Panda (2011)" & "Christmas is Here Again (2007)". He was born on October 29th 1956, and is currently 65 Years Old.

Plot: "Tappy Toes" is an animated odyssey about a young penguin named Pingo who, after finding a pair of tap shoes in an old steamer trunk, discovers he can do something no other penguin can do ... tap dance! But that's not the only thing that makes Pingo unique. He also happens to be raised by a most unlikely duo: Lou and Buddy, two birds of prey who initially set out to make a meal out of Pingo and end up taking him in as their own. Pingo's toe-tapping skills not only catch the eye of darling young female penguin Bella, but they could be the key to stopping the vile hermit crab Gabby, and his dimwitted sealion sidekick Thrasher from destroying a colony of penguins that is home to Pingo's long-lost parents.

This animated adventure follows Pingo the penguin as he discovers a talent for tap dancing. Before long, Pingo's dancing skills bring him closer to Bella, who may be the just the bird he needs to stop the nefarious plans of Gabby the hermit crab.

Dialogue: The dialogue is sometimes Funny. For Example: --------------------- Buddy: "Oh! Hard boiled!" Lou: "No." Buddy "Scrambled!" Lou: "Nooo!" Buddy: "Poached with a pinch of seasalt!" Narrator: These are the Skua Birds. Seabirds of the family, Stercorariidae. They are noisy, dirty, and nasty little scavengers." Lou: "That egg is a real wopper, we're eating it raw, understand?" Buddy: "Raw? Why don't we just eat our own boogers?" Lou: "We do." Buddy "Well, we shouldn't." Lou: "Listen Julia Childish, we don't have time to stand here and argue about the culinary arts. If we don't snatch that egg quick, we're going to be eating snowcones for dinner." Buddy: "Fine." Lou: "Not a boy, now y'know the drill? You distract the penguin and I'll snatch the egg." Buddy: "Why d'you always get to snatch the egg?!?" Lou: "Oh, for the love of all things frozen!" Buddy: "You think I'm not capable of snatchin' the egg, do you?" Lou: "No, I don't! In fact, I think you'd have a better chance of laying an egg than stealing one." Buddy: "Oh, that hurts! Deep down hurts! A sealion ripping out MY HEART kinda hurts!" Lou: "So you really wanna snatch the egg?" Buddy: "Yeah yeah! Yes I do!" Lou: "Well forget it, it ain't gonna happen. Now let's go." Lou: "Hey, I'm TALKING to you."

Voice Acting: The voice acting isn't too bad. Pingo sounds like Corrine Orr but less annoying, Gabby sounds like an actually menacing villain when he's in his shell, Thrasher sounds like Patrick Star, Bella sounds like someone from Piper Penguin but better, Gertrude sounds like a real parent, so on, so on.

Conclusion: This movie is mostly fine, I can't call it a masterpiece. But thank you for reading this.

best bootleg in cinematic history

[s-97858-39131 · 10/10 · 6 May 2024]

I love this movie so much it should have won an award. Honestly the animation is great and smooth. I love the plot and the characters. Never watched something so great and so culminating. I would rather watch this than the real happy feet. Tappy Toes should be streaming everywhere. Netflix come claim this masterpiece. Disney put this on Disney plus right now before I start a war. This is the best movie I've ever watched. Prime video start streaming Tappy Toes and you'll have more viewers than ever. Amazing plot. Amazing characters. Amazing animation. Amazing acting. Overall an amazing movie. 1000000/10 do recommend.

Better than Happy Feet Two (because it's actually good)

[whateverbloob · 7/10 · 27 April 2024]

This is another mockbuster that people either act like the worst thing ever or quickly become bored of when it turns out to not be as entertainingly bad as they thought it would be.

I rolled my eyes when YouTube critics did so for Chop Kick Panda because it was obvious people were nitpicking for the sake of filling time for their "THE KUNG FU PANDA FROM YOUR WORST DREAMS!!1!" videos while downplaying the positives. For once, I can actually relate to such a knee-jerk reaction. I was one of those people too.

This movie was my first introduction to the world of Renegade Animation mockbusters and as such, it left the biggest impression on me. The first time I watched it was finding it for free on Amazon Prime and watching the cobbled-together trailer. Since I didn't want to pay money to watch Happy Feet, I was going to riff on this movie to pass the night.

At first, I immediately started to make fun of the dialogue. Then it changed to being "this is actually OK, I guess." Then it turned to laughing at some of the jokes. Then, being completely sold on the entire thing. Imagine the whiplash between my preconceived ideas and the fact that this was a genuinely funny and entertaining movie.

STORY & WRITING:

Like Chop Kick Panda, this is a very comedy-oriented movie so the plot is simple to make way for the jokes. It sees two skua birds named Buddy and Lou attempting to care for a penguin chick they stole, who they name Pingo, with really nothing in common with Happy Feet or its sequel outside of a tap-dancing penguin. Unlike Chop Kick Panda, however, there are a larger amount of heartwarming moments that are balanced with the humor.

In fact, the joke-to-story ratio is fairly even in comparison, with Chop Kick Panda getting a bit too exposition heavy towards its middle portion. It also really feels like they found their way with the humor after Chop Kick Panda, featuring more clever wordplay, cultural references, character banter, and even meta jokes.

Tappy Toes can be downright hilarious at times. During the very first scene, there is a parody of a nature documentary that has a narrator drawing over the skuas trying to steal a penguin's egg, culminating in a fourth wall break that has them unable to move due to being trapped under said drawings.

Dialogue is frequently laden with sarcastic wit, with characters playing off of each other's personalities well ("You're acting strange." "I always act strange." "...Point taken." / "If anybody sees us consorting with the enemy, we'll be the laughingstock of the entire bird community!" "We already are." "Yeah, well, now they'll be laughing even harder!").

There is a pessimistic penguin named Ozzie whose constant opposition to his wife Gerty's optimism is a frequent source of laughs ("Look at him, Ozzie, he even looks like you!" "They all look like me. We all look like each other."). One of the antagonists, a hermit crab named Gabby, even performs a reference to the Merchant of Venice when his minion, a sea lion named Thrasher, revels in his supposed death.

The humor really enhances these character dynamics, with the skuas and Pingo as well as Gabby and Thrasher being absolute standouts in terms of the sheer charm this movie exudes.

One of the things that holds the movie back, however, is the pacing and climax. At first, it seems like it's going well with the movie introducing three different POVs (the skuas and Pingo, the penguin colony, and the antagonists). With this being a little over 40 minutes long, you might think that each POV would get roughly 10-ish minutes of screen-time before the climax that brings everyone together, but the movie actually gives Pingo his own POV during the middle point and has him interacting with a new character named Bella.

The skuas only reappear towards the climax. In addition to this, the penguin colony scenes can sometimes drag on for too long, meaning that the screentime that two of the main characters get is very minimal in the long run. The climax was pretty rushed as well, with the skuas having to make up for not being in roughly half of the film and the conflict being resolved in a fairly anticlimactic manner.

ANIMATION:

In some regards, I feel like the movement might be just a little bit better in Chop Kick Panda. That film was better at hiding how limited the animation was, with less scenes where there are extreme motions such as running or dancing like this one. While I don't fault the movie for trying to show more motion, it can result in some scenes looking awkward such as a scene towards the beginning where Gerty is dropped by the skuas, having an oddly subdued reaction. The animation for when she looks for them in a hole in the ground looked very janky as well.

Still, when it comes to posing, this movie is another step forward, with it being easy to tell the tone and intent of a scene just by looking at the characters. The tweening also looks less rigid than Chop Kick Panda, with more bounciness to movements, which helps it look less boring to look at.

The art-style is a much needed improvement over Chop Kick Panda, which had flatly-colored characters with no black outlines. While not bad, it didn't do anything to stand out either. Tappy Toes, on the other hand, features a nice compromise in which the vast majority of the characters have black outlines with accessories being comprised of flat colors.

Character designs also have more unique and varied proportions, as well, looking distinctive enough to stand out. Not only does this enhance the look of the characters themselves, it helps contrast the flat-looking, but detailed backgrounds as well.

CONCLUSION:

If you're looking for something to entertain yourself to 40 minutes, Tappy Toes is another genuinely good Renegade Animation mockbuster to look out for. A lot of the jokes feel like they could be in an Animaniacs episode with how smart they are and there are some really fun character dynamics, especially with the antagonists.

Pacing and climax issues aside, this is worth watching in my opinion. Just remember, if someone asks if you if you want to watch Happy Feet Two, tell them that the much-superior Tappy Toes exists, instead.