Nowhere near as good as the delightful original, but equally as cute, quirky, funny and entertaining. MAD MAX and BABE Australian director George Miller returns as director and it appears Miller might’ve made the same movie, only with a few new additional characters, but in the overall scheme of things it really doesn’t matter as audiences probably won’t notice, especially the target audience, children. But there are plenty to keep parents and adults alike amused and transfixed throughout, even if it is a bit childish and some adults will find Robin Williams’s annoying vocals starting to grate halfway through. The spectacular dance routines and brilliantly written contemporary song mash-ups are intact but nowhere near as brilliantly performed or executed as in the original. HAPPY FEET TWO follows a grown up emperor penguin Mumbles (voiced again by Elijah Woods) who is once again tap-dancing throughout and must keep an eye out for his son Erik (Ava acres) and his friends as they must rescue the rest of their group when an ice shelf collapses, and trapping them in a gorge. Erik hasn’t quite learned how to tap dance yet and lacks his father’s groovy moves, who is constantly looking out for him, and is ashamed, but soon learns important life lessons and understands what his place holds in the world. Also there’s another story with friends Bill and Will the Krill (Matt Damon, Brad Pitt) who cracks constant jokes whilst trying to discover what their purpose in life is. So there are lots of messages throughout the entire film. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with the film; The Animation is extremely beautiful to look at, and the flawless detailing of the Antarctica and features of the penguins, eagles, whales and the puffin are extremely authentic and stunning to look at. But the cuteness does tend to annoy, as penguins are cute, but that’s the thing with most Animated films, they’re never without cuteness and cuteness does have a habit of really grating the senses. The vocal work (minus dreadful singer Pink as Mumble’s wife Gloria) is sensational, including THE MATRIX Hugo Weaving as Noah the Whale; Matt Damon and Brad Pitt’s hilarious double act and of course Robin Williams’s irresistibly endearing vocal work as both Ramon and Lovelace. Best of all is NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2 and THE SIMPSONS’S Hank Azaria voicing the charismatic Swedish puffin Sven The Mighty and you can’t fail not to get bored listening to those actor’s terrific vocals, I certainly can’t. Not brilliant, but feel-good, family entertainment of the highest order.
RICK
