Described rather aptly as The March Of The Penguins meets Riverdance, Happy Feet is a feel good, computer animated musical comedy about a misfit's quest to find his place in a world that doesn't understand him.

Director George Miller traversed similar territory in the Oscar nominated Babe, although the setting here is the vast, icy wastes of Antarctica, where emperor penguins battle against Mother Nature to propagate the species.

The animators create some truly stunning visuals.

Epic scenes of the flightless birds battling against the elements, the freezing 100mph catabatic winds forcing them to huddle together for warmth, take the breath away.

Equally impressive are the Busby Berkeley inspired song and dance numbers, including the centrepiece sequence to the toe-tapping "Boogie Wonderland" which is a triumph of choreography and swooping camera movements.

The unlikely hero of the tale is a young emperor penguin called Mumble (voiced by Wood), who is an outcast in his community.

Unlike the other birds, Mumble sings and dances to his own tune, a quirk which frustrates his father Memphis (Jackman) and is seen as cute and adorable by his mother Norma Jean (Kidman).

Happy Feet warms the cockles of your heart with its predictable though extremely enjoyable rites of passage story, interspersed with some funky musical interludes.