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Why is Mumble in Happy Feet a different color than the rest of the Emperor Penguins?

All of the rest are all black with yellow around their neck, I just don't get it.

Public Comments

1. Because he got dropped on his head. lmao.
2. He is a "later" egg. If you notice in the beginning he is the youngest out of his "batch". He is not a different colour he's just not fully matured. He looks like a massive chook. Compare him to the dancing baby penguins at the end they look the same. I think they have done this just to make us view him as a confused "teenager", an adolescent still trying to make sense of the world. At least thats what i think.
3. It's a cartoon! The sociological message is "It's OK to be different and just because you are different doesn't make you inferior". A common theme in children's cartoons and is a modern fable or fairy tale.
4. Mumble isn't a different color...it's just the way that your TV shows him. You need to invest in a more expensive one.
5. That's because the animators portray mumble with Pin feathers. These are baby penguin feathers that are more downy and less oily than adult feathers. It is similar to the feathers found on baby chicks (those yellow things) and protect more in the air than in the water. It was used to potray that he was the smallest of that years brood (the last to hatch) because his father let him get colder than the other fathers let their chicks get when he dropped him). it was one thing that definetly drove me crazy while watching happy feet. By the end of the movie, he should have lost his pin feathers, but then again, the animators also think there are really boy bees and ants.
6. As has been noted, he keeps some of his baby feathers for the entire film. He's simply half molted and has yet to grow in all of his adult feathers. The reason for this is simply to make him stand out. Mumble is the star character and his half molted look is to keep him visually distinct. It also makes him cuter and more visually sympathetic. Edit: In regards to tiger b's statement about boy bees and ants. This is very much a pet peeve of mine. Animations featuring ants and bees always portray them as mixed sexes with the hero character a male. This has less to do with ignorance about the insects and more to do with the patriarchy of our society.
7. Trust a big penguin lover (and one that wants to work with them). Ok, about Mumble now. Mumble, when he's a "teenager" is top-half baby feathers, and bottom-half adult feathers. This is called the "juvenile" stage in an emperor penguin's growing stages. The animators wanted obviously to make him "not quite adult yet", because of him as a teenager through the main parts of the movie. "half baby feathers, half adult" so, he's halfway to adult or "in-between". I thought Mumble would have his full adult feathers at the end of the movie. But, he doesen't. He still has his juvenile feathers.