How do you follow up one of the best animated films of all time? That was certainly the problem facing legendary director, George Miller (Happy Feet, Babe: Pig In The City) when he (and his company) sat down to tackle Happy Feet Two. And while there are plenty of reasons why it isn’t as good as its older brother this is still a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
This time round Mumbles (voiced by Elijah Wood – TV’S Wilfred & Robot Chicken) and Gloria (Pink – Catacombs, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) have a son, Erik (Ava Acres – Five, TV’S Harry’s Law) who can dance but chooses not to because he feels that he doesn’t have any reason to. However, tragedy strikes when Mumbles goes to get Erik and his friends after they follow Ramon (Robin Williams – Old Dogs, Night At The Museum 2) back to his colony and meet the legendary ‘flying penguin’, The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria – The Smurfs, Hop). On return to the Emporer colony they discover that everyone else (including Gloria) is trapped by an iceberg and will eventually starve to death. Not to be beaten Mumbles enlists Ramon’s colony to help and tried to call in a favour with Bryan (Richard Carter – TV’S Rake & East West 101), a seal that owes him a favour.
For the most part Happy Feet Two really does work. There are moments of comedy and the musical items work really well. The writers even manage to bring in some tear-jerking moments and Miller once again manages to put a strong environmental message into the film but there are also times when you feel that Miller and co are trying too hard. A classic example is the introduction of Will (Brad Pitt – Moneyball, The Tree Of Life) and Bill The Krill (Matt Damon – We Bought A Zoo, Margaret) as characters, yes they serve a purpose but it really does feel like they are trying to be like Scrat in Ice Age.
Another low point is the voicing of Pink, while she sounds awesome when Gloria has to sing she really needs to work on her voice acting, especially when she is moving into the shoes of Britney Murphy who unfortunately died before she could once again voice Gloria.
All up though Happy Feet Two does in fact work. The animation is top notch and you will find yourself singing the songs long after the credits have finished. Not as good as the first film, but still a worthy animation that shows that Australia is right up there with their American colleagues.
Year: 2011
Director: George Miller
Stars: Elijah Wood, Pink, Ava Acres, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Richard Carter, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon
Classification: PG
Runtime: 103 mins
Rating: 
Out on DVD/Blu-Ray 24th April 2012