The movie critic Matthew Dowd writes that Mac and Susan Smith’s Happy Feet “could very easily have been chosen as the poster child for female empowerment”. However, his verdict was tempered by his reservations about its deeper themes: “Particularly those relating to rape and rape culture. It may well have gone too far for its intended audience but there were numerous instances where some aspects of its narrative seemed overly simplistic and unconvincing to those trying to evaluate its merits”. Another