Happy Feet Two

Director: George Miller
Cast (Voices of) Elijah Wood, Aver Acres, Hank Azaria, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt
Releasing in cinemas: 26  December 2011
Rated: PG

After the big hit of George Miller's first Happy Feet, there was little doubt a sequel would be in the offing, with the added advantage of 3D presentation. While pleasant enough entertainment, Happy Feet Two lacks the magic of the first penguin outing. Certainly the animation remains excellent, with wonderful Antarctic vistas a bonus; and the realistic 3D crisp and clean, setting a high standard. However for the very young, slow dramatic development and overload of dialogue may detract, but the director allows song and dance to dominate this musical adventure.

The opening a lavish coordinated tap dance routine with a sea of penguins as far as the horizon, sets the style of what's to come. The penguins all look the same, like those little boxes of the pop song, which no doubt helps animation of them in such large numbers. Tap dancing wizard Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) tries to get his little son, Erik (Aver Acres) to join the frenetic dance. Erik is scared of making a spectacle of himself as dancing isn't his forte, and ends up disgracing himself in a most embarrassing way.

At this point, the film branches out in a number of different directions, as if the writers were not sure the best way to travel with their storyline. Erik, in misery, wanders off to another penguin community, where he's impressed by The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria), a strange and exalted penguin who can actually fly, but talks like Bela Lugosi with bronchitis.

The main plot has Mumbles separated from his golden-voiced wife Gloria (Pink) and the other penguins, cut off by a glacier due to melting ice. They will starve if some means of rescuing them isn’t quickly forthcoming. Mumbles and Erik, with the aid of a belligerent Aussie seal, have the daunting task of saving them.

In a secondary story, we meet the evolving Will (Brad Pitt) and Bill (Matt Damon), two independent-minded krill, determined to make their individual way in the sea world leaving behind their swarming huge family, who happen to be the preferred meal of whales. Despite atrocious jokes like “goodbye krill world”, they provide colourful images if unnecessary philosophy. Ramon (Robin Williams - also playing Lovelace) the impetuous penguin Latin lover, wanders around in search of romance trying to find it with fiery Carmen (Sofia Vergara), who's not at all inspired by his advances.

Giant seals, led by the obstreperous Bryan, voiced gravelly with amusing Ocker overtones by Richard Carter, and - wait for it - his rival is called Wayne (Lee Perry); shades of Fast Forward. The clever animation of these creatures resembles something Lewis Carroll might dream up. Cutting to various subplots and stopping the action for large scale dance numbers, tends to fragment the story while staggering the pace. Music varies from “We Are The Champions” to a touch of the operatic from Puccini. Mostly it's toe-tapping stuff, but a little goes a long way.

The impressive cast of voices come up to the line and give of their best. Robin Williams, a master at mimicry,  and uses his talent to advantage. Hank Azaria has fun mangling his accent, while Matt Damon and Brad Pitt clearly enjoy their repartee.

Director George Miller summons up considerable forces for Happy Feet Two, but while there are excellent ideas, nothing quite gels and the result is more nebulous than focused, especially for young audiences with a limited attention span. A tighter reign on the wandering script would have helped, although it’s still one of the more congenial family entertainments over the holidays. 

John Bale