The Pebble and the Penguin: Difference between revisions

[[File:pebble_and_the_penguin.jpg|frame| I see four penguins here and one of them [[Toothy Bird|has teeth]]. And that's only the start...]]

 

 

Adélie penguins engage in elaborate courtship behavior where the male builds a nest of pebbles to attract mates. Tough for [[Ugly Cute|Hubie]], as he has no pebble with which to win the affections of the lovely Marina. After Hubie finds an emerald, his rival [[Tim Curry|Drake]] steals it from him and attempts to feed him to a Leopard Seal. Hubie escapes and winds up on a ship with the cranky Rockhopper, Rocko. Together, the two penguins return to their island home and settle things with Drake.

 

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* [[Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal]]: Most of the penguins including Hubie and Marina and those three flying birds

* [[Adorkable]]: Hubie

* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: Adélie penguins actually do use pebbles in their courtship rituals.

* [[Award Bait Song]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBp74R6AfYE "Now And Forever"]

* [[Barefoot Cartoon Animal]]: The penguin wearing a Hawaiian shirt and pants.

* [[Carnivore Confusion]]: The penguins, including the heroes, eat fish, but leopard seals are depicted as gigantic, mindless, evil monsters while the only skuas seen in the movie work for the villain.

* [[Crazy Awesome]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Rocko to Hubie, after barely avoiding being eaten by the leopard seal:

* [[Determinator]]: Hubie, once he's got some backbone.

* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: {{spoiler|Rocko learns to fly off screen and saves everyone from falling.}}

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Subverted, {{spoiler|while Hubie does send Drake falling a good ways, he turns out to still be alive and comes back for one last attack. Which causes his lair to collapse and kill him.}}

* [[Duet Bonding]]: Subverted with Looks Like I Got Me A Friend: A song in which Rocko is initially reluctant to participate, but when Hubie holds his breath in and nearly kills himself, Rocko finally gives in and admits that he has a little bit of a liking for Hubie.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: MGM/UA took over the distribution of the film late in its production, after Warner Bros. disowned Bluth's studio because of the failures of ''[[Thumbelina]]'' and ''[[A Troll in Central Park]]''. Scenes were then cut, characters were removed, and voices had to be re-recorded. Bluth was so upset with the results that he opted to pull an [[Alan Smithee]] and have his name taken off the credits, and accepted an offer to work for Fox Animation, where he [[Anastasia|finally had a brief change of fortune]].

* [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]: Drake gets squashed by a falling rock. If you freeze-frame, you can see his cape and some of his crushed body still sticking to the rock as it rolls away.

* [[Feather Fingers]]: All the penguins have either ''arms and hands'' or hands on their flippers instead of normal flippers.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Marina and Drake's whole relationship, especially during "Don't Make Me Laugh". (see [[Fridge Horror]] on the Fridge tab) Even as a kid, you suspect there's something very, very strange happening here....

* [[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal]]: A few of the penguins, including Drake, are of the shirtless variant.

* [[Hartman Hips]]: All of the female penguins, bordering on [[Humanoid Female Animal]]. Said hips, as you can see in the poster, are way the hell up where Marina's wishbone should be.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: After being informed of Hubie's unique plight on the 'good ship Misery', Rocko exclaims, "If he had any guts he wouldn't have let them take him alive."

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: "Goodness glaciers!"

*** Although Rocko's line "I'd like to put ''you'' on ice!" is a nice recovery/comeback to Hubie's "differences on ice" line.

* [[Jerk Jock]]: Drake. In fact, his characterization can be summed up as "[[Beauty and The Beast|Gaston]] [[Recycled in Space|as a penguin]]".

* [[Mineral MacGuffin]]: The titular pebble.

* [[Mood Swinger]]

* [[Nice Hat]]: Hubie always wears a red hat.

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: After {{spoiler|Drake falls from a spiral staircase in what appears to be a [[Disney Villain Death]], he later appears prepared to throw a huge boulder at the heroes. He's quickly pancaked by his tower coming down on top of him.}}

** Also during Hubie's song. His waist is cut off for a few frames.

* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: [[Tim Curry]]'s attempt at a [[Jerk Jock]] American accent doesnt really hold up.

** In spite of it though, many people who don't like the songs can still admit the first song and 'Don't Make Me Laugh' are actually pretty well done.

*** Don't forget the song Hubie sings to Marina at the beginning of the movie.

* [[Tim Curry]]: Plays Drake. Despite the film's highly lukewarm reception, most people agree that he plays the villain nicely. Though he could probably do this kind of role in his sleep.

* [[Toothy Bird]]: Drake could probably bite through a coconut with his ridiculous looking chompers. All of the penguins have eerily humanlike prominent teeth, but Drake's the toothiest of them all.

* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

* [[Villain Song]]: "Don't Make Me Laugh". Tim Curry does the singing, so it's no surprise that it's the most fun song in the film.

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Hubie and Rocko at first.

** While we're on that, the three penguins who appeared with Drake in every other scene are nowhere to be seen during the final battle.

*** Considering their [[Dirty Coward|nature]], it wouldn't be surprising that they ran off during then.

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Animal Title Index]]

[[Category:Western Animation]]