Happy Feet Two: Movie Review

"Happy Feet" was a highly-praised and highly-awarded film back in 2006. The movie featured a jukebox musical style never-before-seen in an animated film (maybe the hit show "Glee" may have gotten their idea of remixing pop hits from "Happy Feet"). And of course, the story and its characters were one of a kind as well and made the film one of the best releases a half decade ago. "Happy Feet Two" may not as be good as its predecessor in a lot of areas but it still has the ability to grab your attention, make you tap your feet to some classic and original tunes, while laughing and crying and all in one film. Read on for our full written analysis of "Happy Feet Two".

Mumble ( Elijah Wood) is now a father to Erik (E.G. Daily). Like his father before, Erik has struggled to find his place along with his fellow penguins. After being humiliated while trying to dance, Eric runs away and follows Ramon (Robin Williams) to his hometown, Adele Land. There he meets "The Mighty Sven" (Hank Azaria), a penguin who can fly, who inspires Erik that he can do anything he wants as long as he believes and wills it. Mumble is able to find Erik and promptly takes him home. Unfortunately, a big chunk of arctic ice has hit their hometown and trapped all of the penguins in it. Mumble and Erik must find a way to get the other penguins out before its too late.

"Happy Feet Two" features some of the best animation and visual effects ever. It features breathtaking views of the Arctic landscape and even more. From the microscopic krills to the normalcy of the arctic animals to the endlessness and vastness of space, all are fluidly interspersed and animated flawlessly. At times, you would even question if these are real or fake. While much can be said for the visuals, we felt that the song and dance numbers were good but not really great. Knowing how amazing the first film was, it seems that "Happy Feet Two" failed to capture the magic this time around. It was really a mixed bag of average to underwhelming performances. The story has more than the usual fare that you would get from 3D-animated films but it's really a story that's more forgettable than memorable. The voice acting was top-notch. Ironically, we found Brad Pitt's and Matt Damon's performances as being the best out of everyone else but their supplemental characters, while being really funny, messed with the flow of the story too many times. Also, while the humor was funny, some of it may be too deep for the young crowd to comprehend. Bottomline, "Happy Feet Two" is a great watch. It features an interesting story and top-of-the-line visuals but it falls short on its musical roots which is one of the key things that people expect from it.

Rating: 4 reels





Why you should watch it:
- breathtaking visuals and animation. It is a beauty to behold
- the story was pretty good and a lot of lessons to boot
- the film is definitely funny but the humor might fare better for the adult crowd

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the song and dance portions were just average
- the film deviates a lot from the main story