This film is described by its promoters as The March of the Penguins meets Riverdance, and that's not a bad summary. Happy Feet is a chirpy, computer animated musical comedy about a misfit penguin's quest to find his place in a world that doesn't understand him.

Director George Miller explored similar territory in Babe, although the setting here is the vast, icy wastes of Antarctica, where emperor penguins battle against Mother Nature to propagate the species. coping with freezing 100mph winds - the icy footage manages to take the viewer's 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 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 and is seen as cute and adorable by his mother Norma Jean.

"I just wouldn't do that around folks, son," Memphis tells his son, hoping to stop Mumble's incessant jiggling.

"Why not?" asks his boy. "It just ain't penguin," replies his father sternly. In desperation, Memphis and Norma Jean take Mumble for singing lessons with grand dame Mrs Astrakhan, to no avail.

Fellow teacher Miss Viola sums up the gravity of the situation: "A penguin without a heart song is hardly a penguin at all."

Unperturbed, Mumble embarks on a voyage of self-discovery, unleashing his musical soul and revealing affections for pretty childhood friend Gloria. En route, Mumble meets a band of outcast penguins called the Adelie Amigos.

Happy Feet warms the cockles of your heart with its predictable - though extremely enjoyable - rites of passage story, interspersed with some funky interludes. The vocal performances are strong.

There is one flaw - the ecological moralising of the final 20 minutes is heavy handed and the film lacks a spectacular finale, but Mumble and his chums are cute as can be.